Participants in the Occupy Asheville movement marked the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City.
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Participants in the Occupy Asheville movement marked the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City.
Yesterday, 20 Occupy Asheville activists faced charges related to civil disobedience actions last year. After a judge refused to dismiss the charges on constitutional grounds, 17 plead guilty. Another three contested the charges, but were found guilty. All were given no further penalty besides time they’d already served. (photo by Bill Rhodes)
The past week has seen the issue of a Business Improvement District in downtown Asheville become increasingly controversial, as more organizations and individuals have weighed in on the matter. There will be a community forum on the issue 5 p.m. tonight at Pack Memorial Library, organized by BID opponents.
Asheville activists occupied two Buncombe County, N.C., courtrooms for much of the day April 26, 2012. Occupy Asheville legal observer Claire Hanrahan — a longtime local activist — gives her report on the proceedings.
Despite Occupy Asheville’s undeniable impact on the local protest scene, perhaps the movement’s biggest difficulties concerned just that: its attempts at an actual occupation.
(Photo by Bill Rhodes)
What happened when a new protest movement clashed with an Asheville City Council with former activists in its ranks. Photo by Bill Rhodes
[Editor’s note: The Occupy movement’s unusual nature makes it hard to generalize about the group’s aims, beliefs and even actions. In developing this story, Xpress spent months talking with a variety of folks both inside and outside the movement. Nonetheless, there are doubtless other participants whose views differ from those presented here.] In Asheville, a […]
Asheville City Council has adopted a measure denouncing corporate personhood and unlimited political campaign expenditures. Good for them. Despite being wholly symbolic, this adds Asheville to the growing list of cities and municipalities that have come to recognize the obvious. I support what Move to Amend is doing and participate in the Occupy movement. In […]
Local U.S. Postal Service workers and protesters — including members of Occupy Asheville and Occupy Hendersonville — will rally today at 1:30 p.m. in Pack Square Park to protest proposed cuts.
Enforcing a new city ordinance, the Asheville Police Department cleared tents from the Occupy Asheville campsite — one of the last public Occupy encampments in the country — in front of City Hall late yesterday evening. Three protesters, claiming the rules infringe their rights, were arrested for ordinance violations. Photo by Bill Rhodes.
With a noon eviction deadline, Occupy Asheville campers make preparations for what comes next.
(Photos by Bill Rhodes)
In a Valentine’s Day meeting, Asheville City Council voted to evict the Occupy Asheville encampment in front of City Hall, one of the last remaining in the country, on Feb. 17. Council also unanimously backed a resolution supporting the city retaining control of the water system in the face of a state study. (Photo by Bill Rhodes)
For live dispatches via Twitter, follow Senior News Reporter @DavidForbes or #avlgov or click through for a live feed.
Instead of candlelight dinners, the members of Asheville City Council (and any staff and members of the public who happen to be in attendance) at tonight’s meeting will spend a Valentine’s evening in City Hall. A resolution supporting the city’s control of the water system and ordinances ending the Occupy Asheville encampment top the agenda.
With the recent wave of evictions of Occupy camps around the country, Occupy Asheville’s encampment in front of City Hall is one of the few still standing. Photo by Bill Rhodes.
Interstate 40 was cleared, Asheville City Council retreated, the downtown Bank of America closed up, the role of religion was fiercely debated at the Buncombe County Board of Education, Shuler bowed out, the city looked at restricting newspaper boxes, Council headed to East Asheville, and a deal over the Occupy Asheville camp remained out of reach. Whew. It was a busy, busy news week in Asheville.
Last night, Occupy Asheville’s coordinating council agreed on a letter asserting its camp in front of City Hall is “a representation of the people’s natural rights.” While not explicitly rejecting a proposal by Asheville City Council to voluntarily decamp, the letter didn’t accept it either, leaving an impasse over the fate of the camp heading into Council’s Feb. 14 meeting.
a href=”“If our government is of the people, for the people and by the people, then why is our government taking from the people? Why is our government constantly trying to stop the people from gathering and sharing information? What does our government wish to cover up? Why was the information that exposed the corruption […]
At the longest Asheville City Council meeting in recent years, the debate over the Occupy Asheville encampment was front and center. Motions both to create a permitting process for the camp and to ban it outright failed narrowly. In the end, Council agreed to put a resolution opposing corporate personhood on the Feb. 14 agenda, alongside a motion to give campers a deadline to leave. But, there will be porta-johns.
(Photo by Bill Rhodes)
A proposed permitting process for the Occupy Asheville encampment (which the protesters have rejected), is the main issue on Asheville City Council’s agenda tonight. Council will also consider a 92-unit apartment complex in South Asheville and changes to the city’s annexation plans, among other issues.
Tonight, Asheville City Council will vote on a proposal that would allow protest encampments — like the one Occupy Asheville members have established — in front of City Hall as long as individual campers received permits first. The ordinance would also allow demonstrations after the 10 p.m. park curfew in front of the Vance Monument.