User:EvanCarroll/Occupy Houston

Occupy Houston is an ongoing occupation protest that stands in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. The planned occupation officially started in Houston, Texas on Thursday October 6, 2011 when protesters returned from JP Morgan Chase Tower to establish an encampment at Hermann Square Plaza. During the JPMorgan Chase demonstration there were not any confrontations with the police and numerous different passerby were reported to have sympathized with the tone of the protesters. That same night the police were reported to have commented on how well behaved the protesters were.

Relocations
It wasn't long before Occupy Houston moved for the first time. During the first week of the occupation Occupy Houston respectfully volunteered to evacuate the park for the Bayou City Art Festival earning Occupy Houston the nickname of "The Nicest Protesters in the World", and "Affable Protestors" by the Culture Map. A few of the artists participating in the Art Festival sympathized with Occupy Houston. The location Occupy Houston moved to was Eleanor Tinsley Park where the demonstrators roughed out torrential downpours before finally erecting tents. Shortly after the rain ended, HPD ordered Occupy Houston to dismantle the tents and Occupy Houston promptly complied.

Prior to moving to Elanor Tinlsey, Occupy Houston vowed to return back to City Hall and they did. Yet after spending a few days at City Hall the encampment was moved one last time to Tranquility Park -- this time the pressing issue forcing the move was the Energy Day festival in Houston which has Hermann Square rented. Though Occupy Houston opted to obey the demands of the City evacuating Hermann Square, it did not support the Energy Festival. Instead, Occupy Houston protested the festival on the grounds of it's sponsorship by TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL Pipeline, and Valero which demanded a further $62.8 million dollar tax refund.

Planning
The Official Planning for Occupy Houston started a week before the first protest.

Teams
There are numerous teams working within Occupy Houston:
 * A legal team consisting of members of the National Lawyers Guild.
 * Warehouse (Catalog communal goods check-out and check-in)
 * Logistics
 * Web & Media
 * Facilitation (Help moderate the General Assembly)
 * Security
 * Medical
 * Food

Support from the Community
Occupy Houston has found amazing support from the residents in the city. It was reported that a 42 in flat screen TV was donated, and $1,800 in donations. In addition, numerous different bands and artists have played or showed support for Occupy Houston most notably including Bun B of UGK, and the Free Radicals.

Other Occupy communities have cited Occupy Houston as an example for the good organizational work. It was mentioned at Occupy San Diago that, "[Occupy Houston] just passed a proposal and action for a de-investment campaign. What are we doing with our GA? Let’s get back on track, guys."