I am a student at Seattle Central Community College. I didn’t care either way about this whole “Occupy Seattle” thing. I do now. Walking into the bathroom and finding people sleeping on the floor, drug baggies on the steps near the campsite, smelling marijuana virtually every day, being asked if I have money, cigs, etc., EVERY DAY is not okay. Watching a couple of people from the encampment get into a fight and pound each other’s head on the concrete is not okay. There are so many people hanging out on the campus who do not go here. There is a torn-up couch with graffiti on the lawn, bales of hay piled up, garbage all over the place. This is NOT Tent City! Maybe in the beginning these people had the right intentions. Now, not so much. The way I have been treated is not at all “peaceful.” So, so, so many of my classmates feel the same way and also feel that it doesn’t matter what they say. Nobody cares. See, no one asked me, a student, if it was okay. I came to school and there they were. My schoolmates have been asked numerous times if they want to buy drugs. Sorry, but this is out of control. This isn’t fair to the students, teachers, and staff. You aren’t hurting the “Big Guys,” you’re hurting us students.
—Anonymous
totally agreed! thank you for saying what I couldn’t articulate, anon. the 1% doesn’t give a shit about tent cities on a college campus.
Anon, I am really sorry that this is happening!
40 years ago, hundreds of thousands of people would collect in front of the White House and the Washington Monument in protest, rain or shine, until they were heard. Unfortunately, many were arrested, but not at the insane level as those active in Occupy. Police, among politicians and lawyers, can be bought.
Occupy needs to be taken seriously as a movement before any real progress can be made. College campuses cannot be trashed and turned into drug dealership sites! I wish I had some answers.
But how will they be able to become home owners and pay off their student debt if you don’t buy their drugs and clean up their feces?
The 99% doesn’t care about you or the rest of us.
@3 & @4: Unless you’re deliberately being sarcastic, neither of your comments makes any sense to me at all. You’re speaking for a lot of people you don’t even know.
@3 & @4: Or is Kemper Freeman paying you off, too?
At this point, with the Occupy encampments being busted around the nation, wouldn’t it be cool if we could somehow organize an “Occupy DC” march/caravan/movement?
Can’t you just picture hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised American citizens pitching their tents on the Nation’s front lawn?
Do you think THAT might finally get the senators’ attention??
Oh look, another entitled, whiny little bitch.
@8 I dunno if “entitled” is exactly the word I would use for community college students…
You have to smell marijuana? Every day? Oh noes!
I suppose some of your complaints are legit, but you sound hilariously sheltered and prissy. (Hint: if you are offered drugs and you don’t want them, all you have to do is politely say no and keep walking.)
@7 Nope. This isn’t about getting the politicians’ attention. They don’t care; as flashy of a demonstration that several thousand people camped in DC would be, your representatives KNOW that it’s a tiny, tiny sliver of the voting base. Occupy is powerful because its decentralized; because every person in every city is being a little bit inconvenienced by it, and while they might get upset by having filthy hippies ask them for a few bucks, very few people actually disagree with their message.
Using upper case words for emphasis is not okay either, but you’re still doing it.
I support the ideals and goals of Occupy, I think, but the encampments are backfiring against public opinion and those ever so “undecideds” that we would like to persuade to our views. It really is turning into an embarrassment.
@10: Anon didn’t go to college to get high. Or watch other people do it when s/he is trying to make something of their life. I couldn’t care less if people smoke pot on their own property. I don’t think it’s unreasonable or prissy to ask them not to do it on public property, any more than a person’s right to smoke cigarettes makes it enjoyable for the rest of us to walk thru their cloud of stink, or be forced to watch a drunk make an asshole of themselves while we try to enjoy a few drinks at a bar.
Bottom line: This protest, supposedly on behalf of the majority, is putting themselves first, just like they bitch about the 1% doing. Only they’re doing it in a way that gives it that lovely white-trash aroma.
Occupy Seattle isn’t Tent City either. Tent City has standards of behavior that, if violated, gets the offender kicked out of the camp. Occupy Seattle accepts everyone, no matter how anti-social.
I really don’t understand why the Occupy movements are risking the entire movement on the “right” to camp on public property. A far more effective tactic would be for occupiers to show up at a public protest site every day after they get off work, or first thing in the morning for those who are unemployed. Having average people, well-behaved people, clean people showing up to protest during their precious free time would be much more sympathetic to the working, tax-paying, voting parts of the 99 percent, i.e. the people politicians might actually listen to.
Hell, if Occupy changed tactics to that sort of protest, *I* might even show up.
It might be that some of these folks are not politically engaged but are homeless and this is a better option than others currently offered. How many events does that arena host in Wenatchee? Seems like a whole lot of clean, dry space the state just paid for.
homeless people asking for money, drug use and drug dealing? how is this different from any other day on Broadway?
Seems like part of the plan for these monarchist thugs to destroy something that is actually helping the real middle class — a low cost in-city college that delivers for a fraction of the cost of mainstream.
But that’s the way they do things…
I don’t think you have to be sheltered to not want drug dealers hanging out on your neighborhood corners. And I don’t think it’s prissy to want a work/school environment where people refrain from being blatantly high and/or drunk. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and a place for everything. However, the perma-stoners have to realize that some of us actually try and get things done with our day, and would like a respectful, peaceful atmosphere to work in while we do it.
If you think Occupy brought the drugs you are delusional. Come on, this is Broadway fer Christ-sake! This was a problem long before Occupy. There is even a statue across the street of a legendary abuser! It’s just not so neatly cleaned up and tucked away now. It’s in everyone’s freaking faces, the way it should be, so that maybe something will actually be freaking done about it. These people(the homeless/drug addicts) have every right to be protesting because the system has failed them more than anybody else. There are plenty of other state college campuses in WA if you want to live in a bubble.
I still can’t believe it’s legal to camp on college campuses. It’s not legal to sleep anywhere that’s not your rented or owned property.
i think they should all be tear gassed , loaded into a dump truck and taken out to be dumped in a frozen tundra ..
I don’t give a shit about their plight.. they are an inconvenience I don’t want to see, hear about or smell..
they are idiots that don’t deserve to breathe the same air as I do if they can’t play by the rules..
I am not a 1 percenter, but I will raise my son to strive for it as his other option will be to be around a bunch of losers with a give me something for free attitude..
This post shows perfectly the troubles the occupy movement will have to be taken seriously by the voting majority that will elect or re-elect government officials that will make lasting policy changes on behalf of the disenfranchised. The Tea-Party as crazy as we liberals see it had the correct idea, and unfortunately image. They went directly to the state Capitals, had a focused message (no taxes, limited govt) and had an image that a delegate could respect and in many ways fear (white voters).
What is the 99%? While I agree that the discrepancy in wealth in the global economy is out of control, what is the occupiers message to fix it? The tea party has it down to specific bullet points. Occupy? All the public sees is what this poster is complaining about, drum cicling hippies that complain about how poorly we are mistreated but at the same time rocking IPad’s & I Phones and giving there $$ to the corporations and banks they are protesting against.
Occupy needs to get its shit together. Clean yourselves up, bus to Olympia, align themselves with the unions, and stage coordinated protests. No one gives a shit, literally about kids camping out in westlake. I mean, what impact is that really making? You think UBS, BOA, or any of the other players are going to change policies because some face pierced ave rat is camping out in front of their building? Please go to the State Capitals! Only the politicians can pass laws to reel in the corporations ,they are not going to do it without the laws in place to prevent them from being the greedy fucks that they are. OK Im off my soapbox now, fuck it well all be dead in 2012 anyways.
Is it time for me to say “I told you so” now about Occupy Seattle squatting at SCCC? Because I knew that was a stupid idea from the beginning and I did in fact say so. “Occupying” an allied space is fucking dumb.
Completely agree. I was driving by this morning and saw a line of portable toilets and a fucking shit load of garbage. Who’s paying for these toilets? I think I have a guess. Who’s picking up the mess?
I agree with the protestors intentions but why does it seem like a bunch of homeless people looking for meaning and trying to get laid? Bring it on extreme liberals.
See, no one asked me, a student, if it was okay.
So everyone should check with you before they fight for something they believe in. Check.
I agree with @10 — complaining about smelling marijuana and being offered drugs in college is immature.
@26, Perhaps you should pay for the writer’s tuition?
And another thing, most of us smoked pot in college…AFTER CLASS. When you are trying to go to class, you know what you pay tuition for, it would really piss me off if I had to deal with stoners all the time.
@24 Absofuckinglutely.
Don’t we have some big glass buildings somewhere filled with the ghosts of Seattle’s consolidated banking history (SeaFirst, Seattle Trust, Washington Mutual, Rainier…) that actually contain some remote-controlled bankers in shiny shoes and bloated portfolios? Oh what the hell, just find some greedy bastards and set up camp. Can’t be that hard.
These are all completely legitimate complaints.
@24 I’ll join you in that chorus … “I told you so.”
“Walking into the bathroom and finding people sleeping on the floor, drug baggies on the steps near the campsite, smelling marijuana virtually every day, being asked if I have money, cigs, etc., EVERY DAY is not okay.”
But dude…that stuff is what college is all about.
(…somebody else was gonna say it if I didn’t, y’know…)
I think they’ve gotten so caught up in protesting, they forgot what they were fighting for.
They’ve essentially just turned into a giant smelly slumber party.
I agree with the fact that we need to make changes in the economy, but the way they are going about it is wrong. Maybe instead of blocking traffic, they could set up some sort of market and sell local goods at a low price so people don’t have to buy mass-produced and expensive trinkets for the holidays. Seattle has amazing local artisans.
Or they could actually organize themselves and make a civil appeal to the government. Nobody is really sure what they want anymore.
OCCUPY MERCER ISLAND
I’d be interested to see if there has been any abnormal increase in crime statistics on the Hill. And if there is any direct causation due to the scum bags that are hanging out in the OWS periphery and using OWS as camouflage. Because it sure *feels* like there has been a spike in some serious crime up here since OWS moved into the hood.
I agree with the previous comments that occupying an allied space is pointless. The occupations should be at the capitals. They should be disrupting the government and the banks, not the lives of students at a community college.
A revolution for the 99% is not going to be pretty. Because it’s the 99%…so it will include the homeless, the druggies, and the crazies…but it also includes very intelligent and hard working people…hopefully the latter get to hold the megaphone.
Anon, I think your perspective on this is pretty immature. Maybe you need to educate yourself a little more on what this movement is about…what exactly is going on in this country(the big picture)…then you might have some compassion, some respect, and maybe even some gratitude for the occupiers.
This is funny because I was just thinking the other day about how clean and boring Broadway is compared to the 90s.
@32 — that attitude is probably why you got a worthless liberal arts and crafts degree instead of learning a hard science or trade. College is NOT about doing drugs and being a filthy hippie. It’s about A) getting credentialed so you can work a well paying job and B) indulging your lazy self just long enough to realize it’s unfulfilling and that you’ll fail out and fail at life if you continue down that path.
And I ask in general, what is the message of the occupy movement? No one knows because the only story getting out is how disgusting the occupiers are. Change tactics and change them last month. Occupying is backfiring obviously. Dress in suits, cut your fucking hair, get a job. That will work wonders. People may even stop rooting for the cops.
Anon is completely in the right to expect an environment conducive to their education. This is what someone who gives a crap about their future sounds like.
Speaking of piles of garbage, you might want to pay more attention to the filth in the hallways that would be there regardless of protesters on the lawn. Oh, and the fact that the trashed, disgusting bathrooms have been an issue for students and faculty alike for years, as detailed in the New City Collegian.
Oh, and you might want to take your self-righteousness to the group of students who hang out behind the SAM building and smoke pot there.
@38
“What is the message of the Occupy movement?” + “Get a job!” = “I do not understand words or situations”
Where the hell were all of you during Occupy Bellevue?
I did score some Top Pot fritters, so I guess I won big.
@37, no one even hassles me at Dick’s anymore. I just seems wrong somehow.
@7: Actually, I think I could. THe question is, will that happen?
This anon post made me nostalgic for the Odegaard Undergraduate Library on the UW campus back in the 80’s.
@11 for the win!
@39 +1
@24 +1
I went to SCCC for 5 of the six quarters necessary to get my AA. Stoners were a daily annoyance, not outside, handily sequestered in tents, but right in class. Every day they ask stupid, were-you-even-awake questions that waste everyone else’s time. Then they go down to the library and blab away to their pals while everyone else is trying to study.
Community College might not be the best place for you if you having to deal with stoners interferes with your ability to concentrate, or whatever.
Like 39 said, if a little filth, homebums, and pot smoke harsh your mellow, Seattle Central might not be the place for you, fellow!
As someone recently said: the movement is called Occupy Wall Street, not Sleep on Wall Street. It seems that absent leadership has caused this movement to go awry somewhere. I honestly think that a dedicated few need to step up and whip this sleepover into a grown-up protest. Who, though?
@46: That’s the $64 trillion question!
Thank you for your insightful words. A lot of us are tired of these people. And the classes I attend are not full of potheads as some of the comments suggest. Many parts of the campus were clean and maintained, including the bathrooms and elevators, for the first time this year thanks to new people in charge. But now the occupiers are just bringing everything down to their apathetic level. If you choose to live in your own filth go do it in your own space.
Anyone who finds one or more of those drug bags (little square ziplocks with patterns on them), will receive $5 for each one that I don’t have already. Get at me.
-Matt Clark
Anyone who finds one or more of those drug bags (little square ziplocks with patterns on them), will receive $5 for each one that I don’t have already. Forget that OCCUPY nonsense, and make some real cash. Get at me.
-Matt Clark
I support the Occupy movement and what it stands for, but I do find it hard to take them seriously when they create messes and expect others to clean up after them. If they want to be taken seriously as a movement, they’d ORGANIZE (which they do NOT seem to be) and have a clean-up detail, food details, etc. Have it run like a well-oiled machine, don’t unnecessarily inconvenience everyone around you, and you might get taken a little more seriously.