In the spirit of the Occupy movement, a new “Occupy Wallingford” group has sprung up in the neighborhood. This announcement comes from one of the organizers, Jessica Severance:
Last night at 7pm a dozen or so of our friends and neighbors met at Keystone Church, at 50th and Keystone Place, to start our own Occupy Wallingford group. We discussed lots of issues, including our support of local businesses and our desires to see some peaceful actions in the neighborhood to raise awareness and educate our neighbors about this global movement. We brainstormed about our concerns for our neighborhood, and how we can become more involved with our own sustainability and community.
At our next meeting, which will be at Keystone Church again on Thursday January 12th, 2012 @ 7pm, we will be bringing our ideas for actions we can bring to the neighborhood, or changes we’d like to see in our community. Please let your readers know that this opportunity to become involved has arrived in Wallingford.
“Occupy Wallingford”? What are you occupying? This sounds like a healthy discussion with solid goals, but how it fits in with this movement is baffling. With every splinter group, each with it’s own agenda, the original message and it’s momentum gets more and more diluted. I realize you mean well…
Dearest Paul,
First let me say, we invite you to join us for our next “healthy discussion” on January 12th at 7pm. Occupy Seattle, like Occupy Wall St. (OWS), gains it’s strength and momentum from diversity. The unique ideas, perspectives, ideologies, and passions is what causes Occupy (Wall St., Seattle, Everything) to speak to so many people from a variety of backgrounds. Occupy Seattle, while sharing many similar goals with OWS, also have different issues to address that are specific to the city, state, and region. Some of us involved with Occupy Seattle have realized that we need to make ourselves more accessible. We can bring the movement to the people, that’s the beauty of the structureless structure of Occupy, we’re mobile, resilient, and creative. There are many “groups” under the banner of Occupy because we all have different thoughts on how it should be. It’s the forum for change through communication and collaboration that brings us all together. Neighborhoods are where we spend the majority of our time, and I think it makes sense to build community while deciding for ourselves what that community should be. Outside corporate forces should not paint the picture of our neighborhoods. This is an opportunity to let your voice be heard closer to home and at the same time, learn more about those around you. It’s an education in life to say the least.
Alex,
You have a very interesting take on the Occupy movement. To the “99 percent,” the movement is about economic and social inequality. These many “groups” you describe are subscribing to the Occupy movement in name only.
The group you want to create under the Occupy movement umbrella has already been created many years ago. Its called the Wallingford Neighborhood Assn. That group’s vision is “to build a strong, vibrant & sustainable community through neighborhood communication, participation, imagination and collaboration.” While you didn’t provide a goal for Occupy Wallingford (which is typical of the Occupy movement), I think you would fit in quite nicely with the Wallingford Neighborhood Assn. (Their mission statement even contains two key words you have used: “communication and collaboration.) You should check out their website: wallingford.org.
You said what the issues are, “economic and social inequality”. The first meeting is too early to decide on goals, these aren’t problems we can just provide answers to. They’re too complex to figure out in one meeting of Occupy Wallingford or in 4 months of Occupy anything.
The economic “issue” can be linked to every other major problem facing us today. Homelessness, foreclosures, war, poverty, inequality, crime, education, healthcare…the list goes on, are all caused by an economic system that only works for a small minority of the population.
This is the first time I’ve heard of the Wallingford Neighborhood Association, but I’m sure getting in touch and inviting them to an Occupy Wallingford meeting may help clear up some confusion as to what’s going on with Occupy in general.
I invite you and all your friends and family to come to the meeting, hear what’s being discussed, meet the neighbors that care about all our futures and are doing something about it.
hmmm, the Wall. NA is discrete to Wall. business and issues. Staffed by volunteers with irregular hours and low office time.
Occupy has a much larger reach and vibrancy as well as desire for dialogue, availability, energy and getting out of structured parameters. Right on Occupty.
Occupy Wallingford Neighborhood Association!
maybe WNA will allow Occupy to use their office.. its only used 3 hours per day
There are many meetings all over town trying to explain to people what this movement is and do they want to participate. So far the only thing that has made somewhat sense are the credentials of the speakers.I am still confused as to what all these sit ins,sit downs and disruptions are doing to help whatever it is they want to change. Occupy Seattle? What does that mean?
please notify me about the next meeting
I don’t live in Wallingford, I’m a bit farther up north in Kenmore. I’ve been driving all the way south every week to participate in meetings with the OS Get Money Out of Politics working group. Very glad to see Occupy neighborhood groups sprouting elsewhere; thanks for doing this!
Our group has written up a petition to get the Seattle City Council to pass a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United (the Supreme Court decision that gave corporations the same constitutional free speech rights as individual citizens). Let me know if you’d like a copy or would like to have a group discussion on this…