Community Corner

Occupy Petaluma Spreading Message to Eastside and Beyond

Will travel to Santa Rosa next week to protest Wells Fargo's role in construction of for-profit prisons.

They may no longer be at Penry Park, but Occupy Petaluma is planning an event this afternoon at another park…La Tercera, on Petaluma’s eastside, located off Crinella Drive between Albin Way and Baywood Drive. There, the group will hold a “flash occupation” starting 2pm, followed by a general assembly at 4pm.

The activists say they won’t be moving into the park, but are simply trying to spread their message to a bigger audience. This will be their first event on Petaluma’s eastside, which has been hard hit by foreclosures, a key issue for Occupy.

"We want to establish a neighborhood presence and we will be doing these types of events in the months to come," said Tim Lohrentz, a 49-year-old Petaluma member of Occupy Petaluma who works as an economic development researcher for an Oakland nonprofit.

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Then, on Friday, January 6, Occupy Petaluma will join up with Occupy Santa Rosa to march to the main branch of Wells Fargo in Santa Rosa. Activists want to bring attention to the role of the bank in for-profit prisons, since GEO Group, one of Wells Fargo’s biggest investors, has spent millions lobbying for anti-immigrant legislation like Arizona’s SB 1070. That law, now being challenged in court, has resulted in the deportation of thousands of people.

Occupy Petaluma is organizing a critical mass-style bike ride to Santa Rosa that will depart from Kohl's at 9am, Friday, Janiary 6, as well as carpools that will leave at 11:30am from Penry Park. For more info, check out occupypetaluma.com

Find out what's happening in Petalumawith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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