First Slice 12-6-12: Occupy Our Homes turns one
Plus, busted jail locks, special elections, and more
1. A retired Atlanta police detective took her fight to the US Bank headquarters in Minnesota earlier this week, with a little help from Occupy Minnesota and a petition of more than 20,000 signatures supporting her efforts to stay in her Fayetteville, Ga. home.
2. The Occupy Our Homes movement, an offshoot from the Occupy movement, marks its one-year anniversary today. The local chapter, Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, is organizing a walk through the Pittsburgh neighborhood in south Atlanta this afternoon to reclaim vacant and abandoned property. According to the Facebook event:
In Atlanta there are six empty homes for every homeless person, and the homeless population continues to grow. Shelters are packed, forced to turn people away.
We believe that’s a crime.
Homeless people now make up a significant percentage of Atlanta’s population. Empty boarded up homes take up an incredible amount of space in our communities. We see some simple solutions.
Join us as we march through Pittsburgh ( a community ravished by the ) and reclaim property!
3. Fulton County commissioners failed to pass a $5 million measure to replace 1,300 faulty locks on cell doors at the Fulton County Jail earlier this week after commissioner Tom Lowe, who supported the measure, was more than three hours late for the meeting and missed the vote. Officials who opposed the measure said the money could better spent on services for county residents.
4. A special election is being set for Jan. 6 to fill the vacated state Senate seat of Chip Rogers. Meanwhile, the AJC’s Jay Bookman wants us to “be honest” about Rogers being paid to leave his position as majority leader, and tax money being used to fund his new position at Georgia Public Broadcasting.