Occupy Atlanta's Decision For A "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" Concert w/o A Permit Sparks War Of Words With Mayor Reed

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From The AJC Article
Franzen said Occupy Atlanta was given no specific time to clear the park. “He’s not being specific.” He said the mayor warned that protesters remaining will “get their wish” to be arrested.
Dade, however, said no deadline was given because none existed, other than a Nov. 7 date included in a recent executive order that allows the group to remain until that time.
“Nothing has changed,” Dade said Saturday several hours after the meeting between Reed and Franzen.
Dade said the purpose of the meeting with Franzen and promoters of a hip hop concert that was being held in the park was to break up the event because promoters didn’t have a city permit.
The mayor's office said promoters failed to pay the $2,500 permit fee for the concert and failed to submit a security plan. It also said a generator, which could pose a fire hazard, was being used in violation of city fire codes.
Seemingly in defiance of the order not to hold the concert, a stage was erected and hip hop artists were performing anyway in front of a crowd of about 150 people. But the music ended shortly after the meeting between the mayor and Occupy Atlanta leader.
Earlier in the week, Reed told Channel 2 Action News the protesters, who have occupied the park since Oct. 7, have cost the city at least $30,000 in police, portable toilet and other expenditures.
Dade insisted the mayor’s executive order allows the protesters to remain in the park until Nov. 7. The order also suspends a code that would have prevented the group from being in the park between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Dade also said no arrest order was issued for Saturday.
“Mayor Reed has not issued any command to arrest the folks in Occupy Atlanta, although he can make that determination at any time,” the spokeswoman said.

I predict that we are going to eventually see that the presiding "Mission Accomplished" leadership of Atlanta will be forced to articulate the difference between "Unjust Laws that should be broken" and those laws which, if not enforce (despite their sentiments to not enforce them) will weaken their position as the governing force over the political boundary in question.

Mayor Reed was counting on the notion that by giving the Occupiers more time (despite them being in clear violation of the law that had the homeless people arrested in order to clear out Wooddruff Park) that his avoidance of a direct confrontation in the name of "Law and Order" would buy him some good will both with the protesters and the masses of Black Progressives who voted for him and who are watching his every move.  Their sentiments are with the protesters.

Occupy Atlanta has been saying all along that they are running a "civil disobedience" campaign.   The mayor is not likely to avoid the provocation that their actions will inevitably lead to.

The Hip Hop concert that was intended for the park - without a permit and not having paid the City of Atlanta the required $2,500 was part of their provocation.

The ONLY outcome of this entire episode is that the Atlanta police are going to eventually move in and clear out the remnants of the Occupiers - some time in November.   Mayor Reed will be able to say at that time that he had tolerated their protest but now it is time for the law to be obeyed.

Unfortunately with "the law" having been broken on the first day they pitched tents in the park that - had a homeless man done the same thing he would have been arrested - Mayor Reed does not deserve the credit that he was looking for as he claims to be tolerant.

Just as the Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirates would have voiced disrespect for the law had they been allowed on stage today - the young people who are watching all of this have learned that a law is a negotiable item.   The authority figure that chooses to interject his own biases as he recalls his days as a protester back in college and thus puts aside the law that he was charged to enforce has ultimately undercut the integrity of the city.

The Education Of Young Mayor Kasim Reed

As I watch the news clips of the "Occupy Atlanta" protests in Woodruff Park I am beginning to see an increasing number of "Civil Rights Pharisees" that are latching on to the protests.  

The Civil Rights Pharisees have their hands in two pots.  On the one hand their leftist instincts tell them to avoid the indictment they have cast on Herman Cain - "Where were you when the protests were going down?".    They also have a vested interest in Mayor Kasim Reed and the entire Atlanta political establishment.  

As you recall - a few years ago the Civil Rights Pharisees were warning that "Shirley Franklin would be the last Black mayor of Atlanta if we do not come out to support Kasim Reed over the White woman that we successfully tarred as 'a Republican' ".  

Today it is Kasim Reed that is going to get a taste of bad medicine as HE realizes that he is no longer at Howard University as the leader of a sit in that compelled the school administration to oust an offending Republican from the school's board of trustees.  He is the mayor of the City of Atlanta and he is charged with protecting the interests of the city.   This, even from those who willfully provoke him into a police action. 

When Mayor Reed waived the city law banning "Urban Camping" the protesters cheered and pointed to Reed's days at Howard University.   What Reed actually did is avoid a head on conflict at that particular time while he fortified their resolve to do as they please, regardless of the laws that he is charged with enforcing. 

As the protests grow and a new wave of left-wing supporters come over the weekend to show their support and add to the check list of "I Wuz There To Show My Moral Support" - Reed's task of imposing the city's will that its laws be enforced will be that much more difficult.

The main lesson that Mayor Reed must learn is not about the Occupiers but about the "Civil Rights Pharisees".   They are his friends ONLY to the point that he is willing to do what they mandate of him.   When it comes to GOVERNING the City of Atlanta (and other "Mission Accomplished zones" they have been abject failures.   

Mr Reed needs to put his loyalties with the interests of all of the citizens of Atlanta.  Over time they will respect his decision based on the health of the city.  

Those who will use his "stab in the back" against them as an indictment have a track record in "Enforcing Unity" over proving their competency in increasing the standing of the entity that they lay claim to.

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