From dsnews.com:
The Occupy Oakland group is starting a new wave of occupations. They intend to occupy vacant properties.
The Occupy Oakland group announced on Twitter earlier this week that its general assembly “just passed a proposal to encourage the occupation of bank-owned/foreclosed and abandoned properties across #Oakland.”
On Wednesday, a group of Occupy Oakland members took a first step in this direction by entering a vacant building formerly used by the Traveler’s Aid Society.
The group “hoped to use the national spotlight on Oakland to encourage other occupations in colder, more northern climates to consider claiming spaces and moving indoors in order to resist the repressive force of the weather,” states a blog post on the Occupy Everything! Blog.
“None of this should be that surprising, in any case, as talk of such an action has percolated through the movement for months now, and the GA [General Assembly] recently voted to support such occupations materially and otherwise,” states the blog post. “In solidarity with the global occupation movement, we encourage the transformation of abandoned spaces into resource centers toward meeting urgent community needs that the current economic system cannot and will not provide.”
Case and Shiller talking about real estate:
http://www.housingviews.com/2011/11/03/video-sp-interview-with-professors-robert-shiller-and-chip-case-on-the-u-s-housing-market/
Shiller says at 11:45 “don’t let the worry of prices dropping discourage you from buying a home because it’s offset by the low mortgage rates”.
As a way to obtain free housing, I don’t support squatting.
As a way to get the banks off their *sses and get these properties back into the hands of homeowners/landlords/whoever, I have a lot more sympathy for the tactic.
Delaying getting these properties back onto the market for either bureaucratic or financial reasons has a meaningful negative effect on neighborhoods. In theory, anyone should be able to do what they want with real estate, include leave in vacant. In practice, it negatively affects the entire neighborhood, and that’s not fair for neighboring homeowners.
Washington DC has a process by which vacant property is eventually subject to *much* higher property taxes. This is usually pretty effective at forcing owners to do something productive with vacant properties — sell, renovate, lease, etc. My guess is that many communities could benefit from a similar kind of law, and in particular one targeted at foreclosures.
My LIMITED understanding is that OWS is based on ACRON infastructure….Real OWS would have came out in 2008 when it was relevant….which is when ACRON came out and got busted…
(note: “limited” understanding is simply a result of not caring about this whole topic)
They need to leave Oakland alone- go occupy some town that actually employs wall streeters- these protests hurt ordinary folk the most.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/07/MNFB1LQLLD.DTL
Buildings in Downtown Oakland are vacant because there is a lot of much more attractive space at reasonable prices elsewhere. Businesses in Oakland are tired of being the host body for a parasitic city government. No one likes stepping over alcoholics and drug users on their way to and from work and getting robbed in the dark recesses of BART stations. Why not move to San Francisco, where if you put up with the same nonsense you get so much more? Or, if you don’t want to deal with the City and the “residents”, move to the suburbs.
The Occupy Oakland backers are the same people that broke windows and started fires after every event in the BART police trial. It’s the same core group of ne’er do wells and malcontents that spoil for a fight any time something does not go their way. You San Diego folks probably don’t know who Phil Tagami is, but the image of him with a shotgun protecting his property says it all about Oakland.
Shiller says at 11:45 “don’t let the worry of prices dropping discourage you from buying a home because it’s offset by the low mortgage rates”.
That’s fine… as long as you know you’ll stay put for the next 30 years!
Is Shiller shillin’ for Yunnie’s job??
Shiller has always held slightly off-kilter views about how to “fix” the market.
Like bulldozing houses.
Like principal write-downs.
Like housing default swaps.
He approaches it from a scientific viewpoint, without being shackled by morals or concepts of “right” or “wrong”.
Either way, just figure out a way to play it.
Chuck