GA will be held at the SEIU 888 Hall this week (Feb. 15), and NOT at First Church Somerville.
The address is 52 Roland St., in Charlestown, a mere block or two over the border from Somerville. It is very close to Sullivan Square and all the buses (and Orange Line) that stop there.
Please spread the word!
Occupy Somerville has been spending a great deal of time lately focusing on the MBTA’s proposed fare increases and service cuts.
We have been passing on flyers in Davis Square and Sullivan Square, and informing fellow riders on the bus and trains. We are also making plans to join the rally on February 13th in Copley Square, being held immediately before an MBTA hearing at the Boston Public Library. The rally starts at 4:30pm; the hearing is at 6:00pm.
As you can see from this T/Occupy mashup map, there are Occupy groups along every branch of the subway:
Subway map showing Occupy groups
We invite all other Occupy groups to join us next Wednesday, from 7-9pm, at the First Church of Somerville on College Ave., to join us and make posters and plans for the rally!
You can join our MBTA mailing list here, or follow Occupy the T on Facebook.
Read the MBTA’s official page of information about the service cuts and fare increases.
Our next GA is tonight, from 7-9pm, again at First Church Somerville on College Ave.
We will be devoting most of our time to working group meetings. We have two general types of working groups: logistical groups (legal, facilitation, etc.) and issue-based groups.
Logistical working groups:
* Facilitation – Help plan and run our General Assemblies. Sign up for mailing list here.
* Communications/Web – Help maintain the web site, help WGs make and manage email lists, Facebook, Twitter. Sign up for mailing list here.
* Outreach and Visibility – Raise our profile in the community through actions and connecting with people. Email info AT occupysomervillema DOT org for contact information.
* Legal – Legal observations of OS actions; helping OS people understand possible legal consequences. Sign up for mailing list here.
* Meeting Space – Help set up and clean up for GAs, help identify meeting spaces around the city. Sign up for mailing list here.
Issue-based working groups:
* MBTA – Currently focusing on the projected fare increases and service cuts. Sign up for the mailing list here.
* Jobs/Work/Wages
* Environmental Justice and Sustainability – Looking at several local and global issues, including GMOs, locally grown food, and bank funding of coal and climate change. Sign up for the mailing list here.
* Housing
* Racism and Immigrant Concerns
* Money in Politics
Several of the working groups have members who are also working in an Occupy Boston WG that is addressing the same issue.
For those groups without a list yet, contact info AT occupysomervillema DOT org for contact info.
We discussed having some GAs be “themed,” focused on one particular issue, for wider discussion of the issue and consideration of possible actions. We did a short activity last week to help the group prioritize the issue they wanted to be the first focus. The MBTA was the highest group priority by far, so at an upcoming GA, the MBTA Working Group will partner with the Facilitation Working Group to run a GA on that topic.
Topics in order of preference:
MBTA
Racism and Immigrant Concerns
Jobs/Work/Wages
Environmental Justice & Sustainability
Money in Politics
Housing
Our next General Assembly will be on Wednesday, January 11, from 7-9 pm at First Church Somerville at 89 College Ave.
We will hear from the working groups that have formed over the last few weeks, review the grievances collected at our first GA, and discuss what we want to do moving forward, both with local issues in Somerville and larger national concerns.
Other events of interest:
Mass Occupy – meeting on Saturday, January 7, from 3-7pm in downtown Boston. This meeting is bringing together representatives from as many Massachusetts Occupy groups as possible. The event has a Facebook page and Mass Occupy has a Facebook group. Space is limited at this event, so they are asking for 4 representatives from each Occupy – we have 3 from Somerville right now. If you want to join our group of representatives, please email occupysomerville AT yahoo DOT com! Right now, we have 3 white men going, and we’d like to send a more diverse group.
Occupy the T – The MBTA is planning on raising fares and reducing services. Come to a meeting on Tuesday, January 10, at 6:30 pm at the Teen Empowerment Center, 165 Broadway, Somerville, to discuss this and plan some actions.
Welcome to the website for Occupy Somerville in Somerville, Massachusetts!
We’re just getting going, but in the meantime, here are some ways you can reach us:
If you’d like to join our mailing list, click here.
You can also check us out on Facebook.