LOS ANGELES, March 30, 2012 - Occupy Venice, Venice Locals, Lawyers with the National Lawyers Guild, and a group called Venice Community Unity all came together on 3rd Ave in Venice to stop a homeless sweep from happening on March 29.

There was tension. Despite public resistance, the LAPD and Street Services were going to throw away belongs that were clearly not garbage until civil rights attorney, Carol Sobel called Councilman Rosendahl and convinced him to intercede. So this time no property was seized. Trash was removed from 3rd Ave but the belongings remained. It was a success. The only problem is that the city just keeps doing the same thing. Full Stories: Venice Homeless Sweep Stopped: A Good Day in Venice for Street People by Venice Justice Committee | Rosendahl's Legacy: Gentrification and Sweeping the Homeless Out of Venice? by Peggy Lee Kennedy

On Sunday, April 1st, Occupy SF working groups and affinity groups occupied a vacant building at 888 Turk Street, The idea was to liberate a vacant building and convert it into a social center, shelter and food bank for the people. The SF Commune stated that they initiated the occupation "to provide a perpetual, autonomous headquarters for the Occupy SF movement." The building has space for food preparation and distribution, bedrooms for housing, event rooms for General Assemblies and art projects, classrooms and space for medical services. When San Francisco police raided the building on April 2nd, over 50 people were arrested.

On the 2nd of April, US Marshals showed up at Dawn Butler's home in NE DC with an eviction order, only to find that Occupy DC got there first. Three cop cars and the bank agent showed up, and the agent from Chase Bank acted like he did NOT want to have to deal with Occupy DC.

On the 27th of February, Ms Bertina Jones showed up at the DC offices of Freddie Mac, backed up by Occupy our Homes, Rev Hagler, and the same Catholic contingent that took the "Golden Bull" to Congress. Read More | Video of the protest, skit and press conference highlights | 2/27 Noon: luddofthefuture Stream

Related: #F10: by Carmen Pittman

Today, February 10th, 2012, Occupy Atlanta and Take Back the Block sat in at the Chase Bank located in the Edgewood Retail District. This action is part of a larger campaign against Chase Bank in getting the deed back from Chase to the Pittman family. Carmen Pittman, the granddaughter of the late Eloise Pittman, was arrested along with seven others. This was the first time--since the occupation movement shifted its focus to foreclosure--that a homeowner was involved in direct action. They are now known as the Chase Eight.

Eloise Pittman was given a predatory loan on a home that she and her family have lived in for over 50 years. She passed away in November, and her family is facing eviction. Since December 6th, 404 Glen Iris has been occupied in an effort to stop eviction. read more & video

Past Features:An Update and Call to Action from #GlenIris #OccupyAtlanta | The Pittman Family vs Chase Bank-Round 3

The crisis in foreclosures promises to get even worse in the near future, with up to 3.6 million people losing their homes over the next two years, as estimated by the New York Federal Reserve.

Up until August 2011, all 50 State Attorney Generals were negotiating with five banks that were accused of “robo-signing” documents and conducting illegal home seizures. That month, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman decided to oppose what he felt was Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's undue haste in trying to get a settlement and to instead pursue criminal charges against the five banks. Over the next four months, as evidence of blatant illegality mounted, seven other State Attorney Generals followed Schneiderman's lead and left the settlement group.

Read Full Analysis & News Roundup by Rich Gardner, PhillyIMC | Related Indymedia Reports from East New York, Baltimore, and the December 6 National Day of Action | occupyourhomes.org

The movement to physically stop evictions and foreclosures made its debut in Baltimore on Tuesday, January 10th outside of the West Baltimore home of Lila Kara. Nearly 100 people associated with Occupy Baltimore assembled early in the morning to stop a Deutsch Bank foreclosure order against her house. Those assembled included neighbors, some facing foreclosure themselves, and participants from Occupy Our Homes, a working group of Occupy Baltimore.

Though initially proclaiming victory after a no-show, Sheriff’s officers and a representative assumed to be with Deutsch Bank who refused to identify herself proceeded with the eviction process on Wednesday morning, arriving unannounced. Workers changed the locks on the property and took inventory of Kara’s belongings, while about 20 people assembled in protest. Read Full Indyreader report. | DC Indymedia report on day one.

EAST HARLEM community leaders are furious about the proposed expansion of a $19 million private tennis center at Randall’s Island that is connected to tennis legend John McEnroe. Those leaders want to know why Mayor Bloomberg keeps handing barrels of money to the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation, the public-private group that manages the 256-acre park. Read More | Randalls Island Bulletin

Previous Features: Dec6: Tennis pro John McEnroe Confronted for Privatizing Randall's Island | Dec18: Randall’s Island Tennis Expansion FCRC Hearing Abruptly Canceled

On Tuesday, December 6, participants in Occupations across the country joined forces for a National day of Action to Resist Foreclosure.

In the Inland Valley near Los Angeles, a coalition including Occupy LA, Occupy Riverside, Alliance of California for Community Empowerment, Refund California, and SEIU teamed up to defend two families who are facing eviction by sheriffs who protect the profits of JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. [ Photo: Moving Art's furniture back into his house | Read Report]

In Portland,OR, speakers include two homeowners whose families are facing eviction; a representative from Occupy Portland; a Catholic priest from a neighborhood church; and a neighbor of the family where the Conference was being held. [Read Report]

In Atlanta, some Occupiers disrupted the auctioning of foreclosed homes using drums, whistles, harmonicas, bullhorn, clapping hands, and shouting. For most of the auction the protestors were so loud that firms representing banks were unable to effectively do business. [Report & Video] Occupiers also set up tents and held a press conference at a home facing foreclosure that has been owned by the same family since 1953.  O.A. plans to stay on the premises as the family fights to save their home. [Report & Video]

More: All I Want For Christmas Is My Home | occupyourhomes.org

On the 19th of September, an "Occupy cabaret" puppet show visited a variety of locations with activist history, such as the World Bank before ending Franklin Square. A puppet show about the history of Franklin School and the shelter there ended with one additional act-the dropping of banners announcing the liberation of the building for the third time. Read More & Video

Related: Statement of the Occupation of the Franklin School | Highlights of Nov 21 Community meeting on future of Franklin and DC public property

This morning, October 15, City Council is scheduled to vote on Jan Perry's proposal that would release developer Ralph Horowitz of the 2.6-acre green space requirement and make it easier for him to sell the property. And so the future of the 14-acre plot of land, at 41st and Alameda is once again under dispute. Previously the site of the famous South Central Farm, once known as the largest urban farm in the country, if the not world, the land has become the most disputed plot of real-estate in the city. (At the time of its demolition circa 2006, there was a massive community mobilization to save it, and the goal of the farmers to reclaim the land has not died.)

Are members of the City Council colluding with real estate moguls to illegally make bad real estate deals? The original deal to sell the land back to Horowitz was conducted in a closed-session meeting, a meeting which has recently been deemed illegal by a Superior Court judge, as reported in the LA Times. Not only has Horowitz underpaid for the land, he's now seeking to extract more value from it than agreed before. The City should demand the terms of the original agreement. That was the deal negotiated -- a community benefit of green space, the value of which cannot be measured in simple dollars and cents: our city needs more recreational space, particularly in the east side of South Central Los Angeles.

Full statement: Editorial: Jan Perry's Latest Offensive Against the South Central Farm Land (41st & Alameda) by LA Indymedia Collective

BREAKING UPDATE: City Council Votes Unanimously Against South Central Farmers by A | Report Back: City Council Unanimously Supports "Turning Land into Cash" by RP

Background: (video) Justicia Tierra Y Libertad Large by altla04 | Jan Perry's Attempt to Remove Green Space Requirement Gains Steam | Jan Perry Proposes Waiver of Green Space Requirement for South Central Farm Land by RP

Archival: Never Forever 21: Round 3 | Joan Baez, Julia Butterfly & John Quigley Begin Tree Sit at South Central Farm by Jennifer Morris and Christina Aanestad | Encampment at the Farm -- Day 8 by LA-IMC, A, and Free Radio Santa Cruz | Protests growing at Farm, activists call for more support | BULLDOZER RETURNS TO FARM, Direct Action Disables Bulldozer

[On] October 28th, some occupiers from Atlanta escalated the campaign to saving the Peachtree-Pine Taskforce for the Homeless. The Taskforce is under pressure from the City of Atlanta, Central Atlanta Progress, Emory University and other corporate structures in the city who are trying to foreclose the shelter which sits in a very expensive area and is, ostensibly, very valuable real estate.

Over the past few weeks, the occupiers marched in solidarity with the residents at the shelter, including a march to the Emory Medical Hospital in Midtown which ended in protesters attempting to force their way into the administrative building and clashing with police.

R2DToo is a new Oregon non-profit organization supported by members of Right 2 Survive. Today a space was opened up on N.W. 4th and Burnside in downtown to provide a safe place for those that need it. Portland, OR, USA, 10/10/2011.

Ibrahim Mubarak, co-founder of Right 2 Survive, Dignity Village and Board Member of R2DToo, says "This is a direct result of the government's failure to admit that we have a housing problem in this country - not only has the government failed to admit it, it has failed to act on it." The housing crisis that has come to national attention since 2008 has deeper roots in the refusal of the Federal government to recognize housing as a human right. As long as this remains the case, homelessness will not end and we must explore alternative, cost-effective pathways for those who lack housing or who current programs, for a variety of reasons, do not serve. R2DToo hopes its space and the programs it develops will serve as a model for addressing the unmet needs of thousands of Portlanders and will inspire others in possession of empty lots or buildings to consider creating similar spaces." Full Article & Pics by Alex Milan Tracy

Related: Another - Portland Occupation

On October 10th, the former Cathedral Hill Hotel at 1101 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco was occupied by demonstrators led by the squatters' collective Homes Not Jails and reinforced by the activists of Occupy San Francisco. At 7pm, approximately 30 occupiers were inside the building, which contains 600 housing units. They report that most if not all of the rooms remain furnished and in habitable condition. Activists demand that habitable housing stock be put into use for people not profits, and point out that enough residential units exist in San Francisco to eliminate homelessness in the City.

NEW HOMELESS CAMP - R2D2

Today, Saturday, the 8th of October, a new organization is taking physical form. The Right to Dream Too (R2D2) movement is a houseless camp being set up in the heart of downtown Portland next to the China Town's entrance.

The first task is constructing barrier walls around property that has been donated by two Portland landowners to this group. According to the group's spokesperson, Ibrahim Mubarak, "Right now we're on Fourth and NW Burnside, downtown Portland. We have acquired some land from some gracious landowners and we are building a fence so that people who normally would not get a good night's rest, or midday's rest, can come here and rest. And when I say people, I mean houseless people. The fence will keep people safe while they sleep."

Going on to explain the meaning behind the name of this new group, Ibrahim states, "This is called 'Right to Dream Too' because you know about the American Dream, when they tell you that you have to go to college, get married, have 2.5 children, buy a house with a wife, picket fence, and a dog. That's somebody else's dream. They're not allowing other people to dream, meaning that if you're not sleeping, you're not dreaming. So we're allowing people to rest so that they can dream, so we're calling this R2D2, Right to Dream Too, so that everybody will have a right to dream."

OFFICIAL CAMP OPENING ON NATIONAL HOMELESS DAY
R2D2 is currently completing its press release. The release and more information about this action can be found at the Right 2 Survive PDX website: right2survive.wordpress.com.

RELATED POST: Right 2 Dream Too opens space for locals on World Homeless Day [w/pics]