Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilman Rosendahl - Occupy LA Isn't Moving

Occupy LA was dealt a stunning blow one day after police action in Oakland left an Iraqi War veteran seriously injured. City Councilman, Bill Rosendahl and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave LA occupiers notice that, like a pushy relative, the group had worn out their welcome.

Meanwhile, 24-year old Scott Olsen suffered a fractured skull in a skirmish with police in Oakland, California, when demonstrators failed to leave the site where they were protesting. 

After 26 days of unrestrained and relatively peaceful occupation on the lawn at City Hall, Rosendahl told KABC TV, “It is time to move on. The trees are in the process of being impacted. The grass is being impacted. Other activities that we need to do on the lawns are being put on the back burner.

At Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office, Communications Director Tony Arranago said, “We are working on a statement right now. Please check the councilman’s Twitter (@Bill_Rosendahl) and Facebook account.” Well, no more statements have been forthcoming, but Mayor Villaraigosa chimed in. “The protestors are welcome to stay, but they don’t have an open invitation to stay indefinitely,” said his spokesman, Peter Sanders.

OccupyLA protestors have vowed not to move in statements made at the open mike in their Wednesday evening General Assembly meeting. The group claims no leadership, so it’s hard to tell, but the unfiltered shares throughout the evening reflected a solid “hunker-down” attitude. Occupiers are gearing up for a fight that could get nasty on both sides.

The group did issue a statement on their “official” website in response to Villaraigosa’s remarks, saying this: “As for a time stamp on our departure, there is none.”

Some OLA supporters who are experts in different fields have been offering advice to the occupiers to help them avoid confrontations as in Oakland, Atlanta and New York. Live stream chatterers texted throughout the night, like this:

dave494: if we were to break camp every day,,then we would save the lawn, and it would push out the shiftless and lazy....

batsheva: we need a MOD in the morning.. freakazoids abound

ED335: Stand LA Stand LA stand LA

jk_la: i think it would be strategic to negotiate use of the vacant lot across the street

They also exchanged opinions about the tactics City Hall might use to move the occupations:

Republic1776: the city and LAPD want us to go down by ourselves. they dont want to have to evict us

Who are these guys, anyhow? 

Well, a New York Times/CBS poll finds that 43 percent of Americans agree with the Occupy Wall Street movement; there is too much money concentrated in the hands of too few people and they are dissatisfied with politicians and feel betrayed by government.

Charles, an OccupyLA protestor said, “You can’t understand what’s happening politically in our country unless you are aware that over the past 30 years the corporate elite, representing the top 20 percent of income earners in our country, have been able to cement their influence over our political process to such an extent that they have been able to capture virtually all of the increase in wealth that has occurred over that period of time. The attacks on public services and government in general, presently underway, must be viewed in this context.”

Negative Neal, a citizen journalist, tried to figure out who these guys really are. 

And to top off all the drama, there is an election coming up in Los Angeles. Villaraigosa is termed out, but Rosendahl? He’s up for re-election. The gauntlet is down:

@zumadoggZuma Dogg

BREAKING NEWS: L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl is will be forced to endure MOST UNCOMFORTABLE REELECTION CAMPAIGN IN POLITICAL HISTORY.

25 Oct via yoonoFavorite Retweet Reply