Published: Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 8:26 p.m. Last Modified: Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 8:26 p.m.
Negotiations between Occupy Santa Rosa representatives and city officials over terms of a potential camping permit are off to a bumpy start, with protesters rejecting what they called an overly restrictive and formal permit process.
Facts Proposed camping permit rules
Here are the proposed conditions on permits for Occupy Santa Rosa campers: Every adult camper has to give the city their nameEvery tent owner has to get a separate permit and a tag to be affixed to the tent.Tents need to be contained to the two northern lawns of Santa Rosa City Hall. Tents must be 20 feet away from buildings, and spaced at least five feet apart. Each tent must be limited to four campers. no pets except service dogs allowed.no cooking, open fires, generators, space heaters, or storage of flammable material such as propane. no smoking, drinking, drug use or glass bottles. all trash must be removed from the site.no digging, trenching or disturbing landscaping.no disruption of City Hall operations or nearby businesses.Campers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Protester Karyll Averill ripped up her copy of the city’s draft proposal during the Thursday meeting of the group’s General Assembly, to cheers of many in the group of about 50 gathered on the north lawn of City Hall.
“we are not camping. we are occupying!” said Emerald Matra, who said the movement demands “drastic social change around economic injustice.”
It would be a “sorry excuse” for the movement to agree to the city’s rules and would defeat the purpose of civil disobedience, one protester said. Occupy Wall Street protests in Oakland, San Francisco and elsewhere have not signed such agreements, others noted.
“We’re not asking for permission,” said one protester.
The consensus reached at Thursday’s circle may not be the group’s final position on the matter.
Occupy Santa Rosa conducts General Assembly meetings every afternoon at 3:30 p.m., and the group position could change before the next scheduled meeting with the city. An 11-member negotiating team met with City Manager Kathleen Millison and a police lieutenant Wednesday, and the two sides are not scheduled to sit down again until Monday afternoon.
But the tone of Thursday’s lawn meeting suggests it may be challenging for the two sides to find common ground, especially over the issue of permit duration.
As the 12-item list of the city’s proposed permit requirements was discussed – prohibiting everything from pets to portable heaters – protesters started questioning why they were even considering submitting to such a process.
Arrow Flora, one of the group’s negotiators, urged her fellow protesters to send a message to the city that “we are not playing this permit game.”
After a meandering, 90-minute meeting in front of a horse sculpture adorned with American flags, the group directed its negotiating team to continue its discussions with city officials, but to not agree to follow its permit process and to not agree to any end date to the encampment without the approval of the General Assembly.
Following a lengthy City Council meeting on Tuesday, the council directed city manager Millison not to evict campers but to instead open permit discussions with the group. The group sent 11 representatives to the Wednesday meeting and several observers attended as well.
“I think it was very constructive,” Millison said.
The health and safety issues the city has about the encampment seem to be “manageable,” leaving the duration of any permit the core issue to be worked out, she said.
“We’re still talking. no decision has been reached,” Millison said. “we have ideas about that. They certainly have ideas about that, and we’ll be getting back together.”
Three time frame options arose at the Wednesday meeting: permits with a set end date, open-finished permits, and revolving permits that require re-approval by the city, such as weekly or monthly.
Tents started springing up on Saturday, but several council members made it clear Tuesday they would not support an open-finished encampment.
But on Thursday many protesters said movements like theirs take time to gain momentum, and agreeing to stop camping by a certain date could hamper their efforts and message.
“we need to show the corporations that are running this planet that we’re serious and we’re not going away until something changes,” said Shaun Hensley, a 41-year-ancient unemployed millwright who held a cardboard sign that read “Corporations are the Illegal Aliens.”
Camping without a permit on public property is not allowed by city ordinance. Millison has said the protesters are creating several challenges for the city, including costing it $5,000 so far in police overtime. other issues have included unauthorized use of city power, which caused a brief power outage at City Hall Thursday morning.
Sanitation concerns have lessened following the donation of two additional portable toilets. There are now seven on site, two recently donated by the city’s waste hauler, NorthBay Corp.
Some protesters said they are comfortable with the list of conditions proposed by the city.
“It’s all stuff we’re already doing,” said Alex Delmon, 26, who also participated in the sit-down.
Others urged the group to continue with the permit negotiations. “this is not written in stone. There is a lot of negotiating room in it,” said one.
But the litany of protester concerns seemed to bog down any hope for an agreement prior to Tuesday’s council meeting.
Several took issues with the requirement for every tent owner to get an individual permit and affix a tag to their tent. others objected to the need to identify themselves and sign their names to get a permit. The prohibition on dogs and restriction to the north lawns at City Hall were also criticized.
Instead of agreeing to get individual permits, some members supported responding to the city with a code of conduct the group as a whole would abide by.
City officials said establishing an end date to the encampment does not prevent people from expressing their right to free speech at City Hall. but protesters continue to see a strong connection between the two.
Crista D., an unemployed 28-year-ancient resident of Rohnert Park who would not give her full name, said the movement is too important for her to agree to limit it at this point.
“our support is growing by the day,” she said.
She noted that she was taught by Cloverdale teacher Jackie Rose, who made one of the most heart-felt pleas to the council Tuesday. Rose lost her home to foreclosure and because of it, lost the financial aid to send her daughter to college.
“These people are here because my story is their story,” Rose said. “They don’t know me, but they know someone like me. I’m their mother, I’m their sister. I’m their aunt. God, bless you, I’m their teacher. … if they come take your tent down I’ll bring you another tent.”
Permit negotiations between Occupy Santa Rosa, city officials off to bumpy start