Today's "Occupy Hartford" actions turned out to be more of a union media stunt than a protest to effect social change from what I saw. That was more evident than ever when the press releases began rolling out from Union organizers. Signs and banners were front and center from the Teamsters and SEIU.
And for anyone that has ever watched a flash mob video, the element of surprise and spontanaiety happens because the people just show up and get started. No telegraphing your intentions to the media, the property owners and more importantly the police or security agencies. That is why they have an impact.
Today's event was probably the biggest "non-event" Hartford has seen in a while. Do they not understand that HPD has people that live just to develop "Op-plans" to minimize the impact of such events. I think in all honesty many commuters would welcome this as a daily event. It seems that traffic ran smoother nthan just about any day I have seen.
The bottleneck at the intersection of Farmington, Broad and Asylum Streets was non-existent. Traffic was flowing smoothly both east and westbound on Farmington Avenue which is usually bumper to bumper at this time of day. Fortunately the gridlock and disruption of traffic never happened. That's probably a good thing since I think many of the "99%" (translated as us commoners) would have a hard time supporting something that was disrupting our daily lives.
The HPD "Ops plan" diluted the impact so much that unless you were on Broad Street near the Courant and I-84 you would be hard pressed to even know anything was going on. No tasers were unholstered, no pepperspray cloud over the area, no riot helmets,just a street full of cops who politely announced to the 12 human speed bumps that each one was about to be arrested and were they sure they wanted that.
A sergeant and two officers approached each of the 12 people on the entrance ramp and advised them they were about to be arrested. And probably even more politely than a hostess at a restaurant, they were led to the prisoner transport by two police officers.
I'm still not sure what the message is and what "Occupy Hartford" is trying to accomplish, but letting the union's hijack their message and ride their coat tails isn't a good direction to take.
The officer's present from HPD did a great job handling the event, but it is another unnecessary burden being placed on a Department which should be focusing on keeping our City safe, not being used as extra's in a stage production orchestrated by Union organizers.
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6 comments:
Captain Joe Buyak's ops plan, he ran the entire operation and his boots were on the ground.
I'm still not sure what the message is
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Nor are the "occupiers" aware. From the outside looking in, or down from rte. 84, it appears that there is none. What we have is a bunch of over-educated ignorant-muses, who are vaguely dissatisfied with life on planet earth.
I'm still not sure what the message is
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Rhona Cohen, the wife of Mayor Timothy O’Brien, was among 13 people arrested in Hartford Thursday afternoon as part of an Occupy Hartford protest.
“I acted because my sense of consciousness directed me to do so. I am very concerned about the economic crisis and if I don’t stand up then who will?” Cohen said.
People are angry and tired of politicians and corporations bilking the public with no consequences.
In addition to politicians basically selling us out,by allowing corporations to ship jobs overseas, the amount of fraud and corruption by our politicians and corporations is reprehensible and should not be tolerated.
Our Law Enforcement officials on state and federal should put more resources in investigation and prosecution of theses crimes.
Unfortunately, i don't think that will happen. most of our government officials are corporate representatives and protect corporate/self interest before public interest.
How can you take the occupy movement seriously when the protesters give money to big corporations they claim to hate. Go to a rally in Hartford and see people protesting big money corporations while wearing name brand clothes, north face, nike, etc. As they get into there cars made by companies that were bailed out by the people they elected into office.
Be led and follow union organizers that get paid by the working union members who make a lot less then they do. Follow these organizers who force you to pay dues and will ridicule you if you use you first amendment rights and speak out against them.
Rather then disrupting the people that are responsible and work to pave their own way in life why don't they pick up the paper and fill out a job application.
There comes a time in your life when you have to take responsibility for yourself and stop living off of others and the government. Most people do this after high school when they move out of their parents house. I guess these protesters have to be natured and can't fend for themselves.
Joe Buyak is a man among men.
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