It would seem that Mayor Greg Fischer has had his fill of Occupy Louisville. After meeting with city officials this past Friday, protesters were politely informed that their permit for Founders Square is getting renewed for 2012, but without any sort of structure to keep them warm at night. No reason was given for the city's sudden change of heart.
Such a pity that the mayor of Louisville, a little blue dot in the red sea of Kentucky, just can't seem to get with the program, here.
Fischer and his staff seem to not understand that if they wanted Occupy Louisville to stay out of sight and out of mind, it would have been a better strategy to just leave the tents alone. Has Mayor Fischer not watched the news, looked at the internet or spoken to a mayor of another major city in the past 4 months?
Every single time an American occupation is threatened with eviction, the revoking of a permit or any other hindrance to their 1st amendment rights, the people fight back. Every time there is a chance that the physical occupation may disappear, the number of supporters and physical occupiers grows exponentially. Every time some frustrated mayor says, "Get out of my park," the protesters respond with chants of, "Who's park? Our park!"
Mayor Fischer is clearly not ready for this jelly.
Occupy Louisville decided at a well-attended meeting this Sunday that they will not allow the city to remove them without a fight. Organizers are scheduling their second meeting with city officials for this Wednesday.
To further solidify this, protesters have scheduled a press conference for this Tuesday at 5:30p.m. Protesters are inviting the public, and any city officials with the intestinal fortitude to stand up for the 99%. Mayor Fischer is invited to attend the press conference as well.
Photo by Pam Newman
Louisville.com's The Arena section features opinions from active participants in the city's politics. Their viewpoints are not those of Louisville.com (a website is an inanimate object and, as such, has no opinions).
