The preliminary injunction hearing will begin at 9:00 am on Tuesday, January 10th in room 800 of the City-County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh. At 3:30 pm, Occupy Pittsburgh will begin demonstrating outside of the City-County Building. When Court lets out, there will be a brief Press Conference including an opportunity for Q & A with a member of the Occupy Pittsburgh legal team. Occupiers will then march from the City County Building to BNY Mellon for a demonstration followed by a rally at People’s Park and a musical performance by Jasiri X.In addition to asking the public to attend the rally and march, Occupy Pittsburgh is asking the public to do the following to show their support:
• Hold non-violent demonstrations against BNY Mellon around the world (the bank’s corporate headquarters is One Wall Street, New York City). As a multinational banking institution BNY Mellon has offices around the globe including offices in; Boston, London, Moscow, Sydney, Cairo, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and many other population centers around the worldAccording to Occupy Pittsburgh, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Cleveland, Occupy Philadelphia and other Occupy groups across the U.S. will take action in support of Occupy Pittsburgh today. This includes a demonstration by Occupy Wall Street in front of One Wall Street, the New York headquarters of BNY Mellon.
• Wear bandannas, Guy Fawkes masks, or similar coverings to express solidarity with the anonymous and amorphous “99%” in general and the 50 Jane Does and 50 John Does named in the lawsuit in particular. This, of course, is merely a suggestion subject to the comfort level of those involved;
• Engage in autonomous direct actions ***;
• Send mail supporting Occupy Pittsburgh to BNY Mellon’s Pittsburgh office (500 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15258) with the return address of #1 People’s Park, Pittsburgh PA 15219; and
• Temporarily change your addresses on Facebook and other web sites to #1 People’s Park, Pittsburgh PA 15219
***Occupy Pittsburgh and our allies will not endorse, plan, or coordinate any unlawful or violent actions.
...a daily newspaper using its resources to bully people around, embarrassing them with personal information the paper can't even claim any public interest in -- simply for availing themselves of their First Amendment freedoms.And then there was this editorial cartoon today:
On the "Watch List": BNY Mellon. The commonwealth of Pennsylvania is reviewing whether Bank of New York Mellon overcharged the state and its pension funds on foreign currency transactions over the last 14 years. Three other states already have filed lawsuits to that effect. BNY Mellon denies any wrongdoing. But the allegations are a black mark that the banking giant will find difficult to erase.Sound familiar?
About 75 members of the Occupy Pittsburgh group protested against corporations and the financial system in front of the BNY Mellon regional office in downtown Pittsburgh.And from Occupy Pittsburgh itself:
The protesters gathered at noon Wednesday for less than an hour to demand that Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly investigate whether the banking giant overcharged pension funds in the state.
BNY Mellon says the allegations are baseless. The Occupy Pittsburgh group was formed about two weeks ago, in response to the Occupy Wall Street protests.
As we pointed out on October 19, BNY Mellon is being sued by the attorneys general of three states for ripping off $2 billion from public pension funds by overcharging them for foreign currency trades. It is also being sued for $1 billion by the Retirement System of the City of Detroit for keeping the pension funds’ money in Lehman Brothers even after it became apparent that that bank was in trouble.Doesn't Scaife's braintrust already know this? If they do, then why did they fail to inform its readership of it? And if they don't, then why do they call themselves a newspaper?
Everyone knows these times are really toughOccupy.
And we need to band together say we've had enough.
All the jobless people need to learn to be content
Cause what we need to do is protect our one percent.
Save the rich.
Let them know you care.
Don't them leave to languish
In their penthouse of despair.
Save the rich.
Let their bonuses be swollen
And let them keep it all tax free
Even if it's stolen.
Save the rich.
Let's give our job creators
More than their fare share
So they can go to Asia
And create jobs over there.
There's loopholes and exemptions
And children to exploit.
So give them special tax breaks
Who cares about Detroit?
And those who don't create jobs
Really need help, too.
Cause without their 7th home
How will they make it through?
It's not time for complaining
Not the time for class war.
It's time sacrifice yourself
To give them more and more and more
And more and more and more.
Save the rich.
America's built on corporate greed.
It's not Wall Street's fault
If you can't get what you need.
Save the rich.
Don't go crying to mommy
Cause if you don't agree
Then you're socialist commie.
Save the rich.
Blame yourself for your problems
Not the bad economy.
So what if those who have the most
Are the ones who put it in jeopardy?
Forget your student loans.
Screw your kids and their health care.
It'll only take 10,000 of your jobs
To put another private jet in the air.
Save the rich.
It's so easy to do.
Just let yourself be ignorant
To what's been done to you.
Save the rich.
By doing nothing at all.
Deny all sense and logic
And just think really small.
You should think really small
Or just don't think at all.
Save the rich.
Occupy Pittsburgh drew its largest police presence to date as more than 100 supporters marched through Oakland Wednesday night, sometimes blocking lanes of traffic and chanting messages against police brutality.And so on. There were about 15 more paragraphs.
At one point, more than 10 police cars and motorcycles were used to move the crowd off Bellefield Avenue. No large-scale arrests were made during the nearly three-hour demonstration.
The march began at Schenley Plaza about 6:30 p.m. and snaked throughout the college neighborhood. It was designed to show support for the California-based Occupy Oakland, where one veteran was left in critical condition following a confrontation with police.
Several hundred members of Occupy Pittsburgh and their supporters marched through the streets of Oakland tonight.There were no more paragraphs.
There were no arrests and no reports of damage by protestors, who marched in the streets surrounding the University of Pittsburgh campus, according to Pittsburgh police Cmdr. George Trosky.
Elizabeth C. Pittinger, executive director of the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board, monitored the protest and said police exhibited "extraordinary patience and restraint."
Pittinger said marchers, who did not have a permit, spilled into the streets and obstructed traffic for a short time before heeding orders from police to keep to the sidewalks.
This exact quotation has not been found in any of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It bears a very vague resemblance to Jefferson's comment in a prospectus for his translation of Destutt de Tracy's Treatise on Political Economy: "To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, - the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it.'" [emphasis added.]Yes, very vague. There's no mention, for example, about how the cessation of democracy is brought about by giving "to those who would not" work.
UPDATE: From occupypgh twitter account at about 8:58pm:Breaking news:An anonymous source through the Pittsburgh police department has informed us that the camp may be searched tonight or tomorrow.
general assembly approves statement re presumed police search tonight or tomorrow - details coming soonA tweet from Mellon Green:
Action Alert: Call for Solidarity;
Occupy Pittsburgh has received word that police may be planning an action at the Occupy Pittsburgh camp at BNY Mellon Green in the next two days.
This could be our first test in protecting our occupation from corporate and police interference. Please take a minute to read this alert, and take action to spread the word far and wide.
Occupy Pittsburgh must send a message that our occupation is strong, growing and self-sufficient. Police presence is unnecessary and unwarranted.
The police action could occur at any time during the next two days so we must be alert and ready to provide support in the form of solidarity and people's media.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1) Call 311 and tell Mayor Ravenstahl to support our right to assemble and to not interfere with Occupy Pittsburgh.
2) Check www.occupypittsburgh.org, follow @OccupyPgh on Twitter or "like" us at facebook.com/OccupyPGH to find out if or when a raid occurs. Or get in touch with someone you may know at the camp so that you may be contacted.
3) Spend time at the camp or be ready to come and assist when the call is put out that police are present.
4) Bring a camera or smart phone to record police-occupier interactions.
5) If you are arrested or you see someone being arrested, please call the ACLU at 412-681-7736. [Note: this number will soon be updated with an Occupy Pittsburgh legal support number.]
Surely they knew they were signing up for this kind of public flagellation when they targeted -- among all the corporate properties spread around Pittsburgh -- one owned by Mellon.That last link (to "Mellon") gets you to an old Brooks Jackson CNN piece from 1998. (The formating is kinda quirky so you might find that you can read it clearer here.) The entwining of Scaife money with right wing causes are well known to anyone reading this blog. But that's beside the point. I should point out that BNY Mellon owns the land upon which Occupy Pittsburgh's continuing its protest and I am not sure Richard Mellon Scaife has any direct connection to BNY Mellon. In a piece from 2007 describing the banking concerns of the various branches of the Mellon family, we learn:
Another well-known member of the Richard Beatty branch is Richard Mellon Scaife, who publishes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and is the chairman of several foundations, including the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Allegheny Foundation. His mother was Sarah Cordelia Mellon, the daughter of Richard Beatty Mellon. There was a time when Mr. Scaife had a direct connection to the family institution; he was a member of Mellon Financial's board back when it was Mellon Bank from 1958 to 1979. [emphasis added.]Past tense. Perhaps things have changed. Perhaps not. Perhaps he still owns Mellon stock, perhaps not. No way to know for sure, is there? Unless I can see a direct connection, I can't assert that there's a direct connection. But again, that's beside the point.
Participants in the Occupy Pittsburgh movement ventured out from their Mellon Green encampment and to protest outside Sen. Pat Toomey's office today, demanding he "[s]top working for Wall Street and start working for us."As part of the coverage, Daley quotes Toomey's statement on the act:
The Occupy campers joined One Pittsburgh and its offshoot action, the People's Lobby, in front of Toomey's Station Square office building at noon today. There, they denounced the Republican Senator's vote against the American Jobs Act. The action was among those that Occupy participants consented to supporting this week. They also plan to picket BNY Mellon -- which owns the Mellon Green site they are camping on -- this Wednesday.
President Obama's latest stimulus bill contains hundreds of billions of dollars in increased spending and more tax hikes, which won't create jobs any more than his last stimulus bill did. With the unemployment rate at 9.1 percent, we do not have time to waste on political games and big tax increases that will only make our economy weaker for all Americans.Ahhhh, now we get to check his statement.
Instead, I support a real jobs plan, which will reduce burdensome regulations that are preventing businesses from hiring; ratify three pending free trade agreements that will increase Pennsylvania's exports; simplify and reduce business and individual tax rates to encourage job-creating business expansions; and get our federal deficits under control, among other pro-growth measures. This plan will actually create jobs.
The President’s plan will cut in half the taxes paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll, targeting the benefit to the 98 percent of firms that have payroll below this threshold.And:
The President’s plan will completely eliminate payroll taxes for firms that increase their payroll by adding new workers or increasing the wages of their current worker (the benefit is capped at the first $50 million in payroll increases).Not sure how that equates to Senator Toomey's assessment. This analysis, from the New York Times, may give us a clue:
The centerpiece of the bill, known as the American Jobs Act, is an extension and expansion of the cut in payroll taxes, worth $240 billion, under which the tax paid by employees would be cut in half through 2012. Smaller businesses would also get a cut in their payroll taxes, as well as a tax holiday for hiring new employees. The plan also provides $140 billion for modernizing schools and repairing roads and bridges — spending that Mr. Obama portrayed as critical to maintaining America’s competitiveness.Ah...it's clearer now.
The bulk of the plan –- some $400 billion over ten years — would be paid for by tax changes that would limit itemized deductions, such as those for charitable contributions and other expenditures, that may be taken by individuals making more than $200,000 a year and families making over $250,000 a year. In Mr. Obama's proposal, the rest would come from provisions affecting oil and gas companies, hedge funds, and the owners of corporate jets. [emphasis added.]
Did the Stimulus Create Jobs?And here's their analysis:
Yes, the stimulus legislation increased employment, despite false Republican claims to the contrary.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly known as the stimulus bill, has been featured in more than 130 TV ads this year, according to a database maintained by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. In many of those ads, Republicans claim the bill has "failed" (a matter of opinion) or state (correctly) that unemployment has gone up since President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on Feb. 17, 2009. The national unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in February 2009, and it now stands at 9.6 percent, having peaked at 10.1 percent in October 2009.Not exactly what the Senator said. Though to be honest he did say the Act "won't create jobs any more than his last stimulus bill did" not that the last stimulus bill created no jobs. All he actually said was that it won't create any more than the 3.3 million jobs (or maybe only 1.4 million) than the last stimulus created.
But it’s just false to say that the stimulus created "no jobs" or "failed to save and create jobs" or "has done nothing to reduce unemployment" – or similar claims that the stimulus did not produce any jobs.
As we have written before, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report in August that said the stimulus bill has "[l]owered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points" and "[i]ncreased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million."
Simply put, more people would be unemployed if not for the stimulus bill. The exact number of jobs created and saved is difficult to estimate, but nonpartisan economists say there’s no doubt that the number is positive.
BNY Mellon said Friday it won't block Occupy Pittsburgh from accessing the banking company's Mellon Green park during today's protests.And they've done some work, too:
"We support the right of the marchers to be heard," company spokeswoman Lane Cigna said, adding, "We trust they will be peaceful and respectful."
BNY Mellon employees yesterday erected fences around the park's fountain and between grassy areas and sidewalks, though they didn't install fencing along Grant Street.Though Vidonic adds that it's unclear what would happen if the occupation is long term.
"We have introduced a modest safety buffer to facilitate employee access to our buildings and public access to the subway," Cigna said.
True, when it comes to fucking up the entire global economy, Mellon is not in the same league as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup or Bank of America. Still, the bank has made numerous appearances in the headlines recently ... because it's been accused of exactly the kind of behavior that spawned the occupy movement in the first place.It's sins? Potter outlines some outrageous CEO compensation that occurred a few weeks after Mellon reduced its workforce by 3% and it's $670 million tax refund in 2010. In light of all that, the Slag Heap supervisor wonders whether making nice with the Occupy Pittsburgh might be a good PR move.
City officials have granted a permit to Occupy Pittsburgh organizers for a 2-mile march Saturday beginning at Freedom Corner in the Hill District and ending at Market Square with a "kickoff rally" from 1:15 to 3 p.m.And:
But the protest won't end there.
At 4 p.m., marchers will head to Mellon Green, a small park owned by neighboring BNY Mellon, to set up camp -- possibly for the long haul, said Nathaniel Glosser, a spokesman for Occupy Pittsburgh.
Occupy Pittsburgh organizers argued in a news release issued Thursday that any encampment at Mellon Green -- at Sixth Avenue and Grant Street, Downtown -- was legal because of "the Urban Open Space section of the Golden Triangle ordinance of the city code, which mandates privately owned plazas and parks be 'open without restriction to the general public.' "Bill Vidonic of the Trib has more:
That includes expression of First Amendment rights, organizers contended, and an ordinance banning overnight camping in city parks does not apply to Mellon Green because it's not city property.
Dan Regan, the city's solicitor, confirmed that a permit had been issued to the protesters but declined to comment on planned police response once the protesters arrive at Mellon Green.
Organizers believe part of the City Code allows an encampment on the private property. Lawyers and police disputed that.And Chris Potter's got some more about Mellon Green the City Code:
Sara Rose, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said BNY Mellon "can always let them camp there, but I'm not sure (the code) requires them to allow that." Deputy police Chief Paul Donaldson said the city does not permit camping in parks or on private property without the owner's consent.
"We are working with the Pittsburgh police to ensure the safety of our property," said BNY Mellon spokesman Ron Gruendl.
Nathaniel Glosser, an Occupy Pittsburgh organizer, said the encampment "may end up being an act of civil disobedience. But it will be an orderly and nonviolent act if it turns out that way."
And Mellon, ultimately, will decide whether the protesters are allowed to stay or not.And:
"We met with city officials this morning," says ACLU attorney Sara Rose. "The city has said they can't issue a permit for the encampment because it isn't city property. It's owned by Mellon, so it's going to be up to them if the [occupiers] can stay." On the other hand, she adds, that means "The police aren't going to kick them off unless Mellon asks."
In the meantime, protesters are citing a provision in the city's zoning code which governs "urban open spaces." These are spaces that are essentially open to the public, though they have private owners. Section 910.01.C.3 ("Urban Open Space Requirements") of the code includes the following provision:That last link heads you to a story at the P-G describing some recent restrictions on some private property's public access.
The Urban Open Space shall be open without restriction to the general public at least during business hours normal to the area in which it is located and during periods of heavy pedestrian movement in the area.
Sounds great, but as everyone knows, in Downtown, "business hours normal to the area" pretty much wrap up at 5:01 Friday afternoon. Moreover, the owners of these places have previously cleared out citizens with much less cause.
In general, the ACLU's Rose says, the code's language "would probably make it hard for Mellon to prevent Occupy Pittsburgh participants from passing through the park. They'd have the same right to be there as any other pedestrian. But I think Mellon could keep people from camping there. I think it would be hard to argue that they have a First Amendment right to camp there."Meanwhile, Occupy Pittsburgh's posted a "Who We Are" statement at their website:
Rose says that if Mellon did object to the protesters' presence, "the police would give them time to leave, and probably charge anyone still left with defiant trespass." She noted that Occupy Pittsburgh had lined up a fallback location -- Monumental Baptist Church on the Hill District's Wylie Avenue.
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.Whoever wrote this obviously had an eye towards Jefferson's socialist/anarchist/dirty hippie screed from early Summer of 1776 because what follows is a list of grievances. Where Jefferson starts his greivances against King George with "He has refused his Assent to Laws...", Occupy Pittsburgh goes with:
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.And so on. You really should do yourself a favor and read it so that the next time someone says "but they don't have a clear set of complaints" you can rattle off a few. Like this one:
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.Or this one:
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.Or these:
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.And finally:
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.That's what they're protesting.
On Saturday, October 15, 2011, Occupy Pittsburgh plans to hold a march from Freedom Corner in Pittsburgh's Hill District through the Downtown Financial District and end with a rally in Point State Park.Taryn Luna of the P-G points out:
At 11:00 AM a rally at Freedom Corner will precede the march, which is scheduled to begin at 11:45 AM. En route the march will pause for brief rallies at BNY Mellon, Citizens Bank, the UPMC Building (formerly the Steel Building), the former Federal Reserve Building, Liberty Center/Federal Investors, and One PNC Plaza.
The march will pause to gather demonstrators unable to complete the longer walking distance at The City County Building and Market Square.
A rally will begin at 1:30 PM at the Fountain in Point State Park. The rally at the Fountain is scheduled to end at 3:00 PM. March and Rally plans for the 15th are still under review for permitting and are subject to change. Updated information will be available at www.OccupyPittsburgh.org
Protestors behind the Occupy Pittsburgh movement have filed for a permit from the city to march from the Freedom Corner to the business district Downtown and rally in Point State Park on Saturday.While Bill Vidonic of the Trib takes a different angle:
The group said it is confident it will obtain a permit by the time the event kicks off this weekend and they are prepared to pursue legal action if it is delayed or denied.
The group Occupy Pittsburgh announced on Wednesday that it will gather on private property Downtown as part of a movement to protest corporate excesses and to call attention to economic and social problems.Though they have a fall back position:
Members of the group said they will encamp at Mellon Green, a small park adjacent to BNY Mellon Center, beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday, though they do not have permission.
One organizer, Jibran Mushtaq, 22, of Monroeville, acknowledged protesters could face the risk of arrest. The group set up an alternate site, Monumental Baptist Church on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District, as a regrouping area if forced out of the park, and for those who fear arrest.Of course, the wingnut press is on the story.
Registering [the poor] to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals. It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote.My guess is that Vadum has a pretty good chance of being interviewed on Fox News in the coming days.
