For Immediate Release
Occupy Olympia Meets with State,
Social Service Organizations, and Faith Based Groups
to Discuss Future of Camp
Social Service Organizations, and Faith Based Groups
to Discuss Future of Camp
Despite the fact that representatives from the city readily admit that spending money on resources for the homeless is not a core function of the city, the Department of Enterprise Services continues to threaten the stability of the community at Heritage Park. Occupy Olympia steadfastly maintains the necessity of maintaining a community that is capable of housing all who call Heritage Park home.
For two months, in addition to other political actions, Occupy Olympia has run an all-inclusive, all-volunteer social services agency in the mud -- offering heath care, conflict mediation, food, shelter, and weather-appropriate clothing to those in need. In previous correspondence with the city, Occupy Olympia was promised vital social services, yet the state reportedly has been “bending over backwards and has nothing left to offer".
One suggestion that was brought forward by Mayor-Elect Steve Buxbaum, the use of a 25 bed emergency Salvation Army shelter, is unacceptable to the Occupy community. Tim, a permanent camp resident stated, “You have a feeling of self-worth when living in the Occupy community that you don’t get from shelters because of the level of involvement and self-governance within the camp.”
Occupy Olympia, in partnership with many local organizations, is endeavoring to facilitate a situation in which the community established at Heritage Park can be preserved indefinitely. Attempts to negotiate use of an abandoned building for occupiers were met with denials and outright hostility. Further negotiations are expected in the near future.
SHELTON BLOG NOTE:
Link to Occupy Olympia website: occupyolympia.org
The political leaders of the state of Washington are busy making massive cuts to social services.
ReplyDeleteAccording to one-percenter Herman Caine, if you are poor in America (or not rich) it's your own fault.
And now, Heritage Park where:
“You have a feeling of self-worth when living in the Occupy community that you don’t get from shelters because of the level of involvement and self-governance within the camp.”
Now Heritage Park and the occupy residents, including the homeless in need of services, must go.
Occupy Olympia is providing the services that a conscious society would provide for it's members with the least. We should not be closing Heritage Park, we should be supporting it as much as we can.
Our sales tax dollars are not going to provide services for Washington's citizens, the lottery dollars apparently do not go where promised, and the dollars we all pay to the federal government never seem to make it back home to help with local needs.
Once Olympia housed legislators who worked for the citizens, who sought ways to take our tax dollars and make them work for the citizens.
Once our Legislators were public servants who acted with heart and brain. The brain has been gone for decades, bought and paid for by polluting industry; the heart has moved to Heritage Park.