City Council listens to Occupy Bloomington statements

Following the first Bloomington City Council meeting of 2012, Occupy Bloomington protesters waited for a call to come through.

Around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, it did. They would not receive 48 hours to vacate Peoples Park; instead, they would only get the original 17 and have to leave the park by noon Thursday.

Three hours before the protesters heard from their legal counsel, Bloomington police officers hung eviction notices at the park as occupiers gathered for General Assembly.

Signs posted on poles around the park informed the protesters that all personal belongings, tents and other possessions must be removed from the park, and that camping in public parks is a violation of the Bloomington municipal code.

An hour later, Occupy Bloomington members convened at the City Council meeting to state their case. People who wished to speak stood in a line from the microphone to the door. City Council Public Comment Rules state that during a regular session, audience members can speak for three minutes on any subject.

“After the stakes are out of the ground, they will still be stuck in me and I think in a lot of these people,” one protester said.

The nine City Council members present listened, many of them taking notes.

“One gentleman spoke in front of GA and asked if anyone could foster his dog,” said Nicole Johnson, her voice breaking, “because he would have to go to the homeless shelter when they took us out of the park tomorrow, and he couldn’t go there with his dog.”

“And about New Year’s, I would like to say,” Johnson added. She paused, then let out a sigh. “The Bloomington Police Department waited patiently for our party to end, even tolerating a stellar firework display.”

Johnson said somewhere between Fourth Street and Kirkwood Avenue, someone allegedly threw a bottle at a building. A BPD officer arrested Alexander Cookman, 36, for throwing the bottle. Two other crowd members, Joshua Johnson and Brian Milum, were arrested for disorderly conduct and other charges.

Protesters spoke before and after the City Council business meeting, then met in the City Hall lobby to discuss their next action. One protester said the Occupy legal counsel spoke with a Bloomington city lawyer, who was going to recommend that Mayor Mark Kruzan give the protesters 48 hours to vacate the park. Around 9:30 p.m., the protesters were notified the occupiers that they would not receive an extension.