In a surprise development, the Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting that Occupy Atlanta has found a new home at the homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets run by the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless which is facing eviction from the City of Atlanta. Strange bedfellows indeed.
Why have these two entities joined forces? According to Tim Franzen, an Occupy Atlanta spokesman, "We were meeting with a number of organizations in the city that wanted to provide us space, but they were going to come with strings attached. The Task Force is the right place for us right now." The space is currently used by the task force which owes the city more than $147,000 in unpaid water and sewer bills and is engaged in a bitter lawsuit with City Hall and downtown boosters which could oust them from the massive shelter.
Occupy Atlanta had previously camped out at Woodruff Park when they were forcibly removed by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed who abruptly revoked an Executive Order allowing them extra time to camp at the park. The mayor has been named one of nine "Public Officials of the Year" by Governing magazine, even though he is under fire for his treatment of the occupiers. http://www.ajc.com/...
Occupy Atlanta had defied the Mayor's order and planned a hip hop concert without appropriate permits which led to an angry confrontation with the mayor and Occupy Atlanta officials. The group then moved to the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site for a few days and have now relocated to the homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets. http://www.macon.com/...
Will this choice of location derail the message of the group and cast them in a more unfavorable light? Will the many elitists in the City of Atlanta continue to deride the movement, viewing them as anti-establishment hobos? This is the impression I was left with on a recent trip to Woodruff Park to visit with the group. A Hip Hop concert had been scheduled to take place that Saturday afternoon and police were surrounding the entire perimeter of the park, while police cars lined the back streets. There was also a mobile police unit located just outside the park, presumably acting as a command center. Several police were stationed "up close and personal" with the occupiers, threatening to take away their generators. There was clearly a stand off occurring between the group and the police who made it clear their presence was unwanted and they were considered lawbreakers and a security threat.
An AJC reader left the following comment about the movement, which is a very common view:
The Occupy Atlanta people are just a bunch of bums... They bum food, beer, and smokes from the real homeless people and screw them out of food and good shelter space they need at night.. Occupy people really suck... You suck up food and shelter,and you just plain stink.. Atlanta people can't even take there family to the park cause you all are stinking it up and just look like a bunch of bums.... I wish the police will run you all out of GA.
Sara Amis, a spokeswoman for Occupy Atlanta said The fourth floor of the shelter was unused until recently and several dozen occupiers are staying on that floor. She is also expecting more members of the group to move in.
The unused space hadn't been cleaned thoroughly in a long time. Occupy Atlanta told the AJC they would like to put murals on the walls to make it feel like a more inhabitable space.
"It's a little rough but we've been cleaning it and getting it ready," Amis said Sunday. "Our primary goal is to have somewhere for people to sleep."
Amis said the homeless task force was donating the space to Occupy Atlanta, but that the occupiers -- who first started camping in Woodruff Park on Oct. 7 before being evicted last week -- might make repairs at the Peachtree-Pine facility.
(Updated with links)