Occupy Sacramento disrupts Wells Fargo 'foreclosure' event

Occupy Sacramento disrupts Wells Fargo 'foreclosure' event

by Dan Bacher

Occupy Sacramento on Wednesday, February 8 disrupted a so-called "Home Preservation Event" by Wells Fargo at the Sacramento Convention Center, calling it a "public relations event for the bank" and another example of "unfair and deceptive practices towards homeowners, rather than a real effort to help the 99 percent."

An exclusive video of the protest can be found here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20308730

Occupy Sacramento said it will protest again Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the Convention Center – and this time will protest with a homeowner who says Wells Fargo is making it impossible for her to modify her loan. Later Thursday, the Occupy Sacramento foreclosure team will meet with the chiefs of staff for the County Board of Supervisors, according to Cres Vellucci of Occupy Sacramento.

A news conference Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at 700 H St. (outside the supervisor chambers) will provide details of that meeting, including requests by Occupy for the County to support a statewide moratorium on foreclosures, and locally, enact a blight ordinance to hold banks accountable for their neglect of vacant properties – the law allows banks to be fined $1,000 a day.

About a dozen Occupy activists "infiltrated" the Wells Fargo event Wednesday, and shouted a "Mic Check" and distributed flyers to homeowners inside before police tossed them outside. There were no arrests – although 110 people have been arrested at Occupy Sacramento since Oct. 6, according to Cres Vellucci of Occupy Sacramento.

In a written statement, Occupy said:

"Everyone deserves to have a roof over their head and a place to call home. For all of us, having a decent place to live for ourselves and our families is the most fundamental part of the American dream, a source of security and pride.

"Now, because of the foreclosure crisis Wall Street banks created with their lies and greed, millions of Americans have lost their homes, and one in four homeowners are currently underwater on their mortgage. In the Sacramento region, 1 in every 19 homes is in some stage of foreclosure.

"Nationwide, 4 million families have lost their homes to foreclosure since 2007. The Occupy Wall Street movement and brave homeowners around the country are coming together to say, 'Enough is enough.' We, the 99%, are standing up to Wall Street banks and demanding they negotiate with homeowners instead of foreclosing on them. We stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement and with community organizations who help the 99% fight for a place to call home."

Below is the complete text of the "Mic Check" inside the Convention Center:

Occupy Sacramento has a message for Wells Fargo Bank
Keep the people in their homes
Make the banks reduce their loans
Wells Fargo, you have a responsibility
To keep people in their homes
Wells Fargo, you can afford it
After tax payers bailed you out
with $43 billion dollars
You pocketed another $40 billion in profits

Wells Fargo, be responsible
Write down the houses’ principal
To current market values
Reduce monthly payments
To affordable levels
Stand by your promises
Make loan modifications permanent

No more foreclosures
No more foreclosures

Keep the people in their homes
Make the banks reduce their loans
Banks got bailed out
We got sold out

The Wall Street bailout and increasing foreclosures of homes by the banksters occur within the context of the drive by corporations and the foundations they fund to privatize public services, education, water, the oceans and the public trust.

Michelle Rhee's campaign to privatize public education, the Brown and Obama administrations' Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal to export more Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta water to corporate agribusiness and southern California, and the privatization of ocean conservation through Arnold Schwarzenegger's corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative are just three examples of the many corporate privatization campaigns now being waged by the Wall Street 1 percent against the 99 percent!

For more information about the , contact: David Mandel or Cathy Grahnert, 916-769-1641 or 916-996-9170, news0058 [at] comcast.net .