HQ at Jackson & LaSalle

[sheryl]

How important is it to maintain this presence? I say it is.

Here is a link from another forum thread that gives all an opportunity to vote one way or another. Only a small amount of people have voted so far.

http://occupychi.org/how-do-you-feel-ab ... n-la-salle

All of our media encourages people to come to Jackson and LaSalle to meet up with Occupy Chicago. If this is no longer the place to be then it needs to be removed from our media and replaced with something like " Good luck finding us, we may or may not be around somewhere in the city".

I also think that winter hours need to be established, maybe 7-7. If GA is being relocated to the Plaza down at Jackson and LaSalle that seems like a good time for "official" presence. Then GA can follow this presence, right at 7.

There are many active people who are downtown all the time because of school or work, or are full time Occupiers who can be there as they will. Stop by Jackson and LaSalle if you are down there.

I have read too many postings on the forum of folks who have gone to HQ looking to meet-up who have been disappointed when few people or no one is there. We need the presence. Who will be joining in when numbers are needed for future rallies if we are not out there welcoming people?

See how easy it is to vote online? Why has that not been available except in this instance? At the minimum, online input from Occupiers who can not be at GA or the various meetings can be counted this way, at least for a temp check on issues. There are so many people out there who want to be engaged. We need to engage them.

[Trader Jim]

I went there and there was no one there, there. I mean I stood there for an hour and no one showed up. Except one black guy and he wanted some spare change. I said I was so broke I didn't even have spare time! Ha HaHa !!!! This should be under the site is acting funny right? HaHaHaha!!!!!!!!

[BenBurton]

See how easy it is to vote online? Why has that not been available except in this instance? At the minimum, online input from Occupiers who can not be at GA or the various meetings can be counted this way, at least for a temp check on issues. There are so many people out there who want to be engaged. We need to engage them.

Hear hear.

I have yet to hear a good reason not to move the outdoor GAs back to LaSalle and Jackson. We've heard quite a few reason how they would help grow our movement. I'm not talking about a 24 presence. I'm talking about a proposed solution to a quantifiable and verifiable problem: declining participation.

Is one of our goals growing the number of people involved? If so a large, visible presence (not necessarily 24/7) in a public location where we can engage friend and foe is an important factor. If we're not opening ourselves up to criticism (and remember, a critique is both positive and negative) then we're cutting off inroads to gain more support and participation. It's a simple proposition.