Occupy Oakland Move-In Day - Henry J Plan A, 1/28/12: photos

[Pictured above: City Hall looms behind the rally at Oscar Grant Plaza before the march to Plan A location]



It should be noted that the day started with a targeted arrest at noon on the 14th Street side of the plaza by City Hall before the rally began. The provocative snatch and arrest of a long-time Occupy Oakland participant who was violating no laws at the time riled up those who had already gathered at the plaza. Chants of "Let him go!" rained down on police as they took their bounty away. Police tried to form a line at the edge of the plaza to hold back the angry crowd, but were pulled away by an OPD commander who told the police line to withdraw and move across the street.



Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center: Located across from Laney College near Lake Merritt and the Estuary at 10 10th St Oakland, CA 94607 the Oakland Municipal Auditorium (a.k.a. The Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center) includes the 1,900 seat formal Calvin Simmons Theater, and a multi-purpose arena, which seats up to 4,500 people. The Oakland Municipal Auditorium was opened in 1914 has been used for everything from the provision of emergency medical services in the Flu pandemic of 1918, to Grateful Dead and Oakland Ballet performances to the Black Panther Party Black Community Survival Conference and the Green Party Presidential Campaign of Ralph Nader. Mayor Jerry Brown closed the auditorium in 2006, allegedly because of a slight operating deficit, but more likely in an attempt to set up the sale of the property in the booming real estate market of the time. The Convention Center was one of the few large venues staffed by Union workers and many labor unions and left political groups used the hall because it paid the workers decent wages. When Brown closed the hall 20 workers lost good paying union jobs and the community lost a locale for everything from high school graduations to AC/DC concerts. The supposed annual budget savings were $300,000 a year. (City staff recently estimated that in the intervening five years $5,000,000 to $9,000,000 worth of decay had occurred in the property.) Jobs, public service and economic stimulus of a vital downtown jewel were destroyed due to property speculation. (Even the City’s 1% were hurt — the Oakland Ballet which used the Calvin Simmons Theater in the Center became homeless and went out of business for over a year.) The property has been left largely vacant, except for some isolated event rentals since then. In 2011, in a paperwork shuffle the City of Oakland sold the property to its the Redevelopment agency (the City Council is the board of the Redevelopment Agency). http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g32810-d1419402-Reviews-Henry_J_Kaiser_Convention_Center-Oakland_California.html


We The Planet 2004: "A Festival of Music and Activism" at the Henry J
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/11/11/26192.php



Occupy Oakland Move-In Day and Rise Up Festival Press Conference, 1/25/12: video & photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/25/18705617.php

Occupy Oakland Move-In Day Mural on San Pablo Ave
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/27/18705765.php


Move-In Day Assembly
http://occupyoaklandmoveinday.org

Occupy Oakland
http://www.occupyoakland.org


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