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Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 11/18/2006 - 9:57am.
I'd like to thank Marco Rosaire Rossi for putting in a lot of work to pull it together, it turned out great. We all have to make sure to be at the council meeting on Tuesday at 7pm. Get there a bit early and sign up to speak.
» Downtown plan draws criticism
jeremy pawloski The protesters also targeted their chants at two downtown businesses that are owned by city councilmen who support the proposed law. Opponents said the draft ordinance would unfairly outlaw panhandling and violate the rights of the homeless and poverty-stricken. The draft law, which is on the agenda for Tuesday's City Council meeting, "would make sitting, lying, vending or soliciting within six feet from the edge (of) a building within the downtown area constitute an obstruction of pedestrian or vehicular traffic ..." "It's public use of public space," protester Tim Nelson said in support of everyone's right to the streets. "The poor people are people, too." One local businesswoman who joined the protesters, Kanako Wynkoop, owner of the thrift shop Dumpster Values, said she fears police would use the law to harass street people. "This ordinance is another tool for them to harass and oppress people," Wynkoop said. READ THE FULL OLYMPIAN ARTICLE (AND CHECK OUT THE COMMENTS TOO)
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Yay, Kanako! Jade
Submitted by Jade on Sat, 11/18/2006 - 11:10am.Jade
Notes from the liberalground
Submitted by enpen on Sat, 11/18/2006 - 1:14pm.First of all, I'm glad the march went well. We tried and failed to make it. Per your recommendation I just finished reading the comments on The Olympian and they're pretty f'n depressing. That being said, as a community it does behoove us to deal with the perception issue. As a result of spending more than my fair share of working eligible years in metric measured customer service positions of one sort or another I've read alot on the psychology of business/client relations. As this information isn't just applicable to businesses but to society at large, I share it here.
Applicable points of note for positive community building to me are: 1 in 25 unsatisfied people take the time to complain and while a person with a positive experience typically tells 4 or 5 others, a person with a negative experience tells between 9 and 12.
People do have negative experiences downtown and it's probably due to our social class system. While walking around downtown with my daughter attached to my chest I was physically threatened by a person who I said hello to. While this deters me in no way shape or form from going downtown, I don't think my experience is the only one of it's kind, either. I also think our society has been in the midst of a fear propaganda thrall since the end of WWII and that thanks to our beloved department of Homeland Security it's only getting worse. I don't have an answer for this issue, but judging from the Olympian's comments section and the few vehement and frightened individuals I saw complain at a City Council meeting in September, we as a community do actually need to address the fear perspective (preferably without more laws).
"It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I could have thought of that' is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn't, and a very significant fact it is too."