WMNF report on Occupy Tampa General Assembly

Occupy Tampa to decide which park to occupy

10/15/11 Seán Kinane
WMNF Drive-Time News Monday

photo by Seán Kinane/WMNF

Occupy Tampa rallied Saturday in coordination with the 15 October United for Global Change and Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.

Saturday will be the 7th consecutive night of occupation.

During the first General Assembly meeting Saturday Occupy Tampa put out the idea of either occupying Gaslight Park, where there were certain to be arrests, or the sidewalk outside Curtis Hixon Park, where there likely would not be arrests. Consensus will be reached at a general assembly meeting later on Saturday.

This is the argument for Gaslight Park by Bettejo Indelicato:

This is the argument for the 100 people who say they will spend the night Saturday night to do so on the part of the sidewalk along North Ashley Drive on the east edge of Curtis Hixon Park:

Here's more of the Curtis Hixon argument:

The Occupy Tampa legal team facilitators said no lawyers were available nor no funds collected to bail people out of jail over the weekend. They warned that anyone arrested would have to wait until Monday morning to speak with a public defender.

Here's some footage:

On Friday Tampa Police gave the encampment a notice that said, in part: "Presently, persons will be allowed to sleep along the edge of sidewalks and not across or perpendicular to the sidewalk between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. We expect this to change within a few weeks and persons are advised to make alternative arrangements."