Occupy Dallas Files Federal Injunction Against City

[struggle4progress]

Group takes battle over permit to court
By Ray Villeda
Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011 | Updated 7:17 PM CDT

Occupy Dallas filed a federal injunction on Wednesday afternoon to get a permit to stay on Pioneer Plaza indefinitely ...

Protesters with Occupy Dallas have been staying in Pioneer Plaza for nearly a week while demonstrating against the banking industry and Wall Street.

Demonstrators have set up tents, including some set up for day care, food and medicine. About 100 to 200 people were staying at Pioneer Plaza as of Tuesday.

The city revoked its permit to the group Tuesday and said it would begin enforcing local ordinances such as park curfews and prohibitions on sleeping in public ...

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Occupy-Dallas-Files-Federal-Injunction-Against-City-131634198.html

[gateley]

1. Boy, I hope this works and that it spreads -- thank you Dallas! nt

[valerief]

2. Good luck, Dallas! nt

[rainbow4321]

3. And all they wanted was to set up portapotties

The occupiers asked if they could set up port a potties (not that they asked the city to provide them, they were gonna do that on their own).

The city said that port a potties could not be set up in the public park or in the parking lot without a permit. So the occupiers applied for and got the permit. The occupiers were trying to keep from having to keep from walking several city blocks late at night, in the dark to go find a bathroom.
Then they read the permit....it said to keep the permit active, they had to get an insurance policy that would cover $1 million dollars. From what I heard, that kind of policy costs around $300/month. Even IF the group paid that, the permit would ONLY be good til this Friday...so they would be paying $100/day! Their lawyer said last night that he has called around and couldn't find a place that would give that kind of policy, anyway.

No permit means they cannot stay at the park. Here is the catch: Per the city's OWN law, that $1 million dollar policy is ONLY to be enforced if the group getting the permit has a couple THOUSAND people present...and OD does NOT have that many people at any given time. Not even close.

The local media is not covering/explaining ANY of the above. All they keep saying is the word "permit" over and over.


According to their facebook/twitter (#occupydallas), police have "agreed" to not try and break up the occupation until the federal court makes a decision on Friday morning.



Here is their facebook

http://www.facebook.com/OccupyDallas


Between their FB and their hashtag on Twitter, you can get a better picture of what is happening on the ground...as expected, the local media is just repeating what the city tells them instead of reporting what is really happening on the ground.

I am not occupying but I go down there on my days off. The media shows up for maybe 30 minutes, leaves, and then shows maybe a minute of video on their broadcast as they just report the bare minimum, usually just repeating the city's spokesperson has fed them

[Major Nikon]

4. I will be very interested to see how this plays out

Both in the press and with local government. The city of Dallas itself, is actually pretty liberal, even more so than Austin, which most people equate to the most liberal spot in Texas. I can't really see the elected officials endorsing any sort of crackdown on the protesters.

This is going to be one of the 'fish or cut bait' moments in Dallas political history, if not Texas itself.

[MrsBrady]

5. having lived in the DFW area all my life

I'd say Dallas is much more blue than it used to be, but not bluer than Austin -- no way.


Fort Worth is finally pink and not solid red...it will get there, but it's got a long way to go.

[Major Nikon]

6. Austin just seems that way, because the geography is different

North of Highland Park is ultra conservative, which makes Dallas appear less liberal, but the city itself is very much so. Check out appendix 3 of this document:
http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/statesman/metro/081205libs.pdf

Dallas rates #32 on liberal rankings, Austin rates #93. This is based on voting patterns in the 2004 election.

If you're talking about the greater metropolitan area, Austin has Dallas beat, but if you only consider the city itself, Dallas has the edge.

[girl gone mad]

7. Thanks so much for the update.