Late last night, the Fullerton City Council heard City Manager, Joe Felz present three resolutions proposed by the Occupiers of Occupy OC. (Now encamped for over 130 DAYS AND RUNNING, at the corner of Harbor Blvd. and Brea Blvd.)

… And the news isn’t at all bad. – Two of the resolutions were passed without much contention… and the third will require some new direction (language correction, and possibly a recommendation to support the newly introduced “Disclose Act”) as it moves into it’s new iteration! – I.E. Two outa’ three ain’t bad. The volunteers & City Council have done some pretty notable good in the name of curbing student debt and supporting local businesses. – We’re still here, and the Occupation continues!

See the VIDEO of the City Council Meeting archived HERE.

Please scroll 1 hour, 32 minutes in.

HERE ARE THE RESOLUTIONS, AND THEIR RESULTS:

• RESOLUTION NO. 2012-19 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, REGARDING COMMUNITY INVESTING THROUGH FUND TRANSFERS. (Seeking to house and hold as great a percentage of the city’s budget in local, community investing and local-lending banks and credit unions as possibly, by creating a policy wherein: Each time money is transfered or reserved, local community banks must be surveyed in an attempt to discern their ability to house said monies, and that larger external banking institutions need only be used, when local businesses are for some reason insufficiently secure or inadequate.)

RESOLUTION PASSES: 4 to 1

• RESOLUTION NO. 2012-20 – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, PROTECTING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM PREDATORY LENDING. (Seeking through communication with school staff to prohibit the predatory distribution of credit cards on college campuses with enticements such as “free gifts”, distribution of credit cards without credit checks, “preying on the parents” – [the distribution of credit cards to students without an income, on the demographical presumption that "the parents will pay"] and the practice of card distribution to students without sufficient credit education.)

RESOLUTION PASSES: UNANIMOUS 

• RESOLUTION NO. 2012-21 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, REJECTING CORPORATE / UNION PERSONHOOD AND OPPOSING THE RULING IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT CASE CITIZENS UNITED V. FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION. (Joining over 100 other US cities in passing a resolution of support for a motion to amend the constitution to clarify that only humans are people, purchasing power is not interchangeable with speech, and that limiting and/or disclosing the political campaign contributions of Corporate Entities, does in fact not infringe on the free speech rights of that “corporate person”. Moreover that unlimited, undisclosed media purchasing power is innately corrosive to the democratic process.)

MOTION DOES NOT CARRY: 2 in favor, 3 opposed

Now, while there are some disappointed faces amongst the Occupy villagers, that our first attempt at gathering national support to overturn Citizens United or, as it is said, “Move To Amend”, we are in no way defeated, nor are we of the belief that the shortcomings (read as: under-clarified & under-communicated intent) in terms of the draft, rest on the City Council’s shoulders at all. – We do generally believe that each of the reasons for witholding support (which were both matters of principle, and matters of fact) were in fact not addressed in writing (via correction of language), or in meetings by the Occupiers, so as to assuage concerns of direction and intent ahead of time. – Which, as we now seek to improve as usual, we are adamantly certain will not happen in the second pass.

We’ve got our work cut out for us.

For the time being, the Civic Liaison group will be holding regular, daily meetings at the public library, with laptops (at a time soon to be announced). AND YOUR PARTICIPATION IS WELCOME!

And in the meantime…

We leave you with our greatest love exposed, and our hearts and our tears on the floor, as tonight we hold vigil, in the loss of one of our own. – An earthquake in a thimble… a titan among Occupiers, and one of the best among us. – We will miss you, Alex.

Alex Weinshenker

Rest In Peace

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

Onward & Upward.

-The Occupiers