Community Corner
Occupy Venice Organizes Demonstration Near Santa Monica Pier
Former Santa Monica Mayor Michael Feinstein joins mobile Occupy Venice movement in a sign of solidarity at Palisades Park.
Having abandoned its in lieu of more stable environments, the Occupy Venice movement hosted an event on Saturday afternoon at Palisades Park near the Santa Monica Pier.
The move was designed as a sign of solidarity with occupy movements around the country, including Occupy Culver City and Occupy Santa Monica.
Former Santa Monica mayor and spokesperson for the Green Party, Michael Feinstein, noted that because physical space is being occupied elsewhere at Los Angeles City Hall and in New York City the Occupy Venice movement is free to work as a mobile entity.
Find out what's happening in Venice-Mar Vistawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Members of the Occupy Venice group asked Feinstein about the possibilty of occupying Santa Monica City Hall, but Feinstein said that could have unintended consequences on city ordinances. He said if the occupation took over the City Hall lawn, legislators would prohibit overnight sleeping and, in turn, alienate the city's large homeless community.
"We don’t need to be on City Hall’s lawn, we are going to get more people here," Feinstein said, noting that half a million people come through Santa Monica on weekends.
Find out what's happening in Venice-Mar Vistawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Vietnam Veteran Michael Lindley of Veterans for Peace, joined the group as passersby stopped to listen as Feinstein and progressive comedian Rick Overton addressed the group.
"This occupy movement hasn’t really settled down yet, and it has a lot to learn yet," Lindley said. But he said the Veterans for Peace support Occupy Venice and both entities have similar goals of holding the government accountable.
"We need to get some sanity in our country," he said.
Other movements have been characterized as violent and out of control at times and Overton said they used to call those anarchists "new shoes" because they weren’t part of your group, they were "new" and sent in to cause havoc.
"This movement is different from any other movement in all of history," Overton said.
Adressing the government's attempts to quell the growing occupy protests, Overton said, "You accidentally woke everyone up."
The Occupy Venice General Assembly meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday behind Ananda 1354 Abbot Kinney Blvd at 7 p.m.
Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared on Venice Patch.
Be sure to follow Mar Vista Patch on Twitter and "Like" us on Facebook.
