While we still had a contingent at the People's Plaza, Sunday the focus was at the foreclosure occupation.
fyi Richard Davis is the CEO of US Bank
Some of our people were at an AIM ( American Indian Movement) board meeting,too, but the big event was the community BBQ at Monique's house: the whole McKinley (North Minneapolis) neighborhood was invited.
more pics and happenings below the squiggle
I don't know it it ever got to the 200 we potentially expected, but the whole yard was busy when I arrived with an apple dessert. Signs were being made, ribs were on the grill, words fail me to describe the wonderful aroma! and a mixture of people hanging out and chatting, Occupy regulars + new faces from the neighborhood and beyond.
I wondered how the vegans were handling the delicious smell of the ribs? One young man said "breaking veg, man!" :-) but some yummy vegan main dishes soon arrived,too, and glorious salad ingredients. My stray comment also led to an interesting discussion on sustainability.
not sure if it was old fashioned or trying to be progressive, but we were told women and kids eat first!
I hung around for a while, got to know the latest homeowner who came to us for help a little better, but then had to head home and finish chores so I could be back for the General Assembly.
It was dark but still convivial when I returned. The photos are showing darker on this monitor, so if you can't tell, that's people singing around a campfire!
While the majority at the General Assembly were faces I recognized from previous ones, we did have a small group of newcomers. I think that may be why Jason chose to read the Declaration from the NYC Assembly in the announcements portion of the agenda.
One person did seem to have frustration with the consensus process, but I don't think it was that or the facilitator that kept us from rolling along like we did the night before. I thought the facilitation team was doing a great job overall. I think it had more to do with the proposals themselves, the two we got to before 9:30 were both issues one would expect to provoke discussion. Some of yesterday's proposals were also discussion-provoking, but the presenters appeared to be more prepared for that then. So, only the one setting some ground rules for dealing with violent behavior passed before I left. 9:30 was the scheduled end time, but I believe they kept doing business for a while after that, especially as we expect Hennepin County to attempt to evict us from the People's Plaza tonight. Luckily we did hear of some potential contingency plans earlier in the evening :-)