OccupyRochester: Well, we got our meeting with the Mayor...sort of

[Earth_First]

I'm so fu*king pissed that I am seeing red right now.

Yesterday, we were presented with an opportunity to speak with the Mayors office in regards to OccupyRochester and maintaining a permanent presence in Washington Square Park. The meeting parameters were set by the Mayors office and were to be held behind closed doors.

We denied the request to meet behind closed doors as we are a group that operates in complete transparency, and demand that government begins operating with complete transparency again, too.

In our letter, we CLEARLY stated that our selected delegation would speak and only they would speak to the Mayors' delegation at our general assembly this afternoon. The date (11/1) and time (4:30 p.m.) were specifically referenced.

What happened this afternoon is nothing short of complete.utter.bullsh*t!

The Mayors office decided that at 2:45 p.m. when most of our group is was not present, to make their appearance. Our selected delegation was out doing outreach work for tomorrows National Action Day.

The Mayor with the Police chief asked two questions, answered them in as much of a round about way as possible, commented on how clean the park was, and left.

From what I understand, the media is going to report that the Mayors office upheld their end of the deal by meeting with us at Washington Square Park.

This is unbelievable.

Some fucking Democracy we live in!!!

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Remind them:

[Earth_First]

2. Might I add that there is also a portable RPD surveillance camera across the street...

So they knew how many, and who was at the park prior to their arrival.

[pacalo]

3. How typically slick they are. Call Keith Olbermann, Larry O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow, & Ed Schulz.

They'll get the truth out.

[Earth_First]

4. KO made mention to Rochester last night on Countdown... n/t

[gratuitous]

5. Call the local paper, TV stations, radio stations, etc.

Get your side of things in before the stories get filed. If you do nothing, the mayor will drive the narrative. If you do something, the mayor might still drive the narrative, but at the very least you've given your side of things. E-mail a scan of your letter to the mayor to every media outlet in the area, and be sure you have your facts before them.

Do it now.

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. Exactly.

:thumbsup:

[Earth_First]

9. Done. Done. and Done.

The media is going to shape this any damn way they want.

I was contacted this morning as a result of an interview I gave yesterday concerning the delivery of the letter to the Mayors office this morning.

I explained to the desk reporter that I am not present at the current action, at which point he interjected with: "So OccupyRochester has no comment? Thank you for your time..."

WTF?!

First off, I was not there. Secondly, I am not a delegated spokesperson to make official statements on behalf of OR.

Lastly, nice leap of logic there...

OR is being tested, and tested hard here folks!

[gratuitous]

12. Good for you

If you haven't done so yet, be sure you have a designated media contact person and a backup. The local media don't sound like your friends, but again there's nothing much you can do besides getting your facts to them. Follow up with e-mails to the outlets, making sure you've established a paper trail that you got all this information to them. It will head off at least some of their bleating later that "We didn't know" about this or that. Of course you didn't know, you pinheads, because you didn't do your jobs and ask questions. Do they even teach that in journalism school any more?

Naturally, you mutter all this to yourself under your breath. If you're going to get anything approximating a fair shake from the local media, it's necessary to cultivate a relationship with some people who are going to be unfriendly, at least at the beginning.

Keep at it, and good luck!

[lunatica]

7. Twitter this information. It's better than the media

How do you think the entire world found out about OWS? And how do you think it became a rallying cry for people all over the planet? Certainly not through the media.

Believe me, the OWS has the attention of the entire world, and can easily dispel rumors and lies. Use the newly acquired power of twitter and facebook.

The media are like dinosaurs now. No one even cares what they say because people know they lie. And those who still only watch FOX. Who cares? They're that permanent percentage of people who none can reach.

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. So typical. They always have to think THEY have the upper hand.

Rat Bastards.

[hootinholler]

10. You didn't get your meeting with the mayor.

Not even sort of. It was nice of them to come down have a look.

They were to meet in the presence of the GA. They did not.

[Earth_First]

11. Well, exactly...

I was more or less being sarcastic...

It's infuriating.

[hootinholler]

13. It's typical sphincter strategery.

Make sure the press knows that the Mayor came to visit and then claimed it was the meeting.