Now that Occupy LA has been removed from City Hall lawn, there are several ideas in circulation about where the city's movement will go next.
Occupy LA activists tell the Huffington Post that some of them are already utilizing office space. Regarding the city's earlier offer of office space, Occupy LA activist PJ Davenport said, "The GA has been quite clear that Occupy has no interest in city office space. They don't want to be beholden to the same people they're trying to redress their grievances with. It'd be like living in your parents' basement--you have to live by their rules."
Davenport continued, "Private donors are beginning to step in. We need more help from the community. This is the people's movement so were asking the people to come forward and help us rebuild."
Davenport told HuffPost that there are three locations currently being discussed as possible locations to occupy next. And yet, while some "occupiers" have said that having a physical presence in front of the city's legislative building is the loudest way to be heard, others do not see a central, physical "occupation" as necessary.
A popular alternative seems to be dissipating the movement to local neighborhoods. Carrie Arnold, who was active with Occupy LA but more recently instrumental in setting up Occupy Pasadena, told HuffPost about her neighborhood branch, "I started Occupy Pasadena because I lived there and I figured others living there cared. We are 30 to 40 people strong and meet once a week. None of them had even been to Occupy LA but they're very, very supportive of the movement."
Other local Occupy movements across Southern California have branched off in a similar way, including Occupy San Fernando Valley, Occupy Long Beach, Occupy Irvine, Occupy Riverside and Occupy UCLA. Arnold explained the rationale, "We could connect with so many more people if we put the movement in your backyard without actually occupying. We could come up with local, surmountable goals to bring to our cities."
Occupy LA will meet Wednesday at City Hall for its nightly 7:30pm General Assembly meeting as usual. Earlier in the day, forty-some Occupy LA members met at the Cornfield park in downtown but were soon told by police it was an unlawful assembly and made to leave.
The Occupy LA Facebook page shares this agenda of events for Wednesday evening:
Phase: 2 Occupy LA
4pm: Marchers will assemble at Pershing Square for a Candle Light Vigil march to City Hall
5pm: Interfaith, a collection of clergy from across all denominations, will hold a service at La Placita Church, 535 N. Main St. LA
7pm: Tom Morello, 'the Nightwatchman' and of Rage Against the Machine, will receive *Vigil Marchers at City Hall West side stairs
7:30pm: Occupy LA General Assembly held at City Hall West side stairs
The vigil is in honor of the 200 protestors who were arrested on $5,000 bail Tuesday night, when more than 1,4000 officers cleared the group's City Hall encampment.
On its website, Occupy LA urges Angelenos to call their councilmembers to ask that the $5,000 bail amount be lowered. The group has also set up a wepay.com account to raise money to help bail out the activists.