AGENDA
I. Welcome/Intros
a. Consensus Building Intro/Hang Signals Review
II. Announcements
III. Committee Report Backs
IV. Proposals
V. Motions
VI. Adjournment
Facilitators:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS AT 7:30
I. Welcome/Intros
- GA held on exiled island after consensus was passed
II. Committee Report Backs/Announcements
a. Legal – Peter
OA does not have a permit for amplified sound. As of now, the city/APD will not
enforce the ordinance unless they receive a complaint.
1. The main concern is the residential bldg. in the NE corner of City Hall. A proposal was made to redirect the sound during tonight’s legal fundraiser.
2. To comply with sound ordinance we must be in the range of 70 decibels or lower
from 10pm to 6am
3. 70 decibels is about the average sound of radio or normal street noise
b. Ian
Power washing will take place from 2am – 6am. He suggests that we only move another Occupier’s belongings as a last resort–move your belongings-trash/signs
and if something seems to be abandoned, move all abandoned items to the same new location so that they are easily located.
We need to have have people blogging and posting about the OA movement on sites
such as reddit, tribe.net and Facebook. If you are interested, contact the Infoscribes group at oainfoscribes@gmail.com to help with the media process.
c. Julia
Keystones XL Pipeline – Development that will transport the dirtiest grade oil across
the US. The pipeline will travel across citizen water supply.
1. Rally to be held in front of President Obama’s headquarters
2. Local march to Citibank to stop their finance of the pipeline
d. Bank Action – Dave
National Bank Transfer Day, Saturday November 5th- Two Marches
1. Worker’s Defense Fund March on Bank of America- 9am, Congress & Oltorf
2. OA March on Wells Fargo- 10am meetup at City Hall, March at 10 Cesar Chavez
over Congress bridge to Wells Fargo
3. www.occupyaustin.org/bank-action or Facebook: Occupy Austin Bank Action
e. OA meeting with City Manager, Micheal McDonald and Police Chief Art Acevedo
The meeting had been in the works for days, but was not approved until 5am by
the City Manager and Police Chief, which led to an early morning GA announcement
inviting members to attend. The announcement was made in the general plaza.
A good number of OA members were able to attend the meeting. Apologies for any
exclusions.
1. OA voiced concerns about how Occupiers were being treated
2. Mr. McDonald and Acevedo stated that they viewed OA as a positive excercise of
our 1st Amendment Rights.
3 OA presented a list of 7 takeaways
i. Return of the Occupiers unlawfully charged with criminal trespassing
ii. Adjust cleaning schedule to make it easier for people to sleep at night
iii. Establishing lawful boundaries
-Member (Claire) mentioned that the sidewalk is owned by City Hall so
therefore, can’t be occupied by those exiled. From Garage to Cesar Chavez
iv. Allow for self policing (?) The problem is that when
OA members reach out to the police for assistance they are ignored
v. Flexibility with the food table. Can we serve after hours w/o tables
vi. Proper boundaries and warnings before escalating to arrests. Several known
cases were due process was not given.
vil. Possibility of getting a park area without camping restrictions. As the
occupation grows, we can separate locations into living and political spaces.
4. City and APD Replies:
i. No decision on the return of the exiled Occupiers. Concerned that if they return
they may be arrested again.
ii. How can OA help to make cleaning faster?
iii. No permanent infrastructure can erected. Permanent eating areas require health
inspections. If someone gets sick from contaminated food, the city could get
sued
iv. Keep everything neat and cleaned.
5. Meeting Takeaways will be posted online
6. In general, McDonald and Acevedo seemed engaged, but we are awaiting there
follow through. (We were told that we would receive a formal response by 5pm.
The deadline has already passed.)
7. Acevedo refrained from making a statement regarding the legality of the arrests. He
will get back to us.
8. They led OA members to believe that they have to speak to someone else before
addressing our takeaways
9. If you have a criminal trespassing charge do not return to City Hall or walk on the
sidewalk. If you do so, you may be arrested.
10. Question raised: What do we do if our demands aren’t met?
Dave – We would take it to a GA, come to consensus of response and present to
the city and the APD
11. Working Group formed last night to address the possibility of moving to another
park.
12. GA decided to table the discussion and move on.
f. IT Team – Cesar
IT team needs more volunteers. All skills levels are welcomed. They will plug you in.
Contact Boyd for more information
g. Outreach – Ronnie
National conference call will take place at 9pm
Read OccupySpain, Democracia Real YA, manifesto
h. Web – Anton
Global support has been through the roof. We should show our solidarity with other
occupations that are battling now.
i. Richmond Virgini- Encampment was bulldozed
ii. Nashville- the magistrate decided not to impose the mandate of the Mayor’s office.
i. Sign Renewal- Michelle
New signs will be constructed Nov 1st @3pm. All supply donations can be left at the
infoscribe table.
j. Flash news – Jamie
a secret event will be taking place within the next few days..before Saturday. Stay posted
and dress in black. Video operators are welcomed.
k. Facilitation – James
The facilitation team is in need of more facilitators.
l. Re-location – James
James is the magnet for the group. There is a google group availabl- Occupy-Austin-
relocation. No date to meet has been set up.
m. Gustavo
We have an information table at Hope Farmers market on Sundays from 10am-2pm.
It’s off I 35 and 5th street. All informational flyers are welcomed at the table.
n. Web – Anton
There are templates available on the OA site to download in order to create flyers.
o. Food – Natalie
Natalie needs assistance coordinating food now that she has been exiled from City Hall.
She is currently working on planning new schedules to reach out to local businesses
to supply some meals, so that basecamp can have a break.
She is also planning another volunteer day at Johnson’s Backyard Garden.
5 hours of work would yield one box of donated goods for OA.
Food volunteers needed to prepare meals during the week. Contact Natalie:
p. Diedrick expresses solidarity with homeless occupiers
q. Anton reads message of Solidarity from the Great Panthers
r. Items confiscated during the night of arrests will be available for pick up with an ID
at the Eastside of the parking garage. They will be available Wed. 10am-8pm
Don’t enter the driveway you may be arrested.
s. Finance – Kyle
Needs donations to help cover OA expenses
1. Question: did the finance committee handled the bail out of arrested occupiers. No. Peter
handled the bonds, but finance will be there to assist in the future. A log of donators and
donations was kept. All surplus funds were returned.
t. Media- Carl and Eahor
Media team is growing. Over the weekend, OA Media Team put out two press releases
regarding the arrests on Sunday morning. They got the media behind us .Press releases
are important, because they help to balance out the stories being told. A press conference
was held and the OA Media Team got the last word.
u. Meeting for the homeless on Friday at Silver Park, 12pm. Buildings that are being torn down
should be used to house the homeless.
IV. Proposals
Proposals were presented, but tabled for consensus
a. Jason McKinney- proposes that photographs of the occupation be added to the media tent
b. Kenneth Hoot- fundraiser idea. Donate useless goods, appliances, etc so that OA can resell
them for profit
c. William Rabble- advises that we contact the UN Secretary General and request peace
officers to protect us from the APD.
d. James- He will present a message about the OA movement on Nov 3rd at City Hall.
e. Sterling- proposed incorporating a unity hand signal into the GA process to use when
things become uncivil.
f. Signage- Proposed that we have an official sign committee
g. Lee. He proposes that we have city hall sit-ins. Get CT’s back on City Hall grounds. Bans
lifted, etc. Contact: leevaijeans@gmail.com
GA adjourned at 9pm.
Tags: General Assembly, minutes
