Mayor Ed Lee: City Walking "Fine Line" With OccupySF Movement

By Lauren Smiley Fri., Oct. 21 2011 at 4:14 PM

Categories: Law & Order

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It will take some kind of corporate power to get these guys to move

Occupy Oakland protesters are playing chicken with the city officials who today gave them an order to vacate Frank Ogawa Plaza. Yet here in San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee intends to continue to "walk a fine line" between letting the OccupySF protesters express their frustration with "corporate greed" and keeping Justin Herman Plaza safe for 100 percent of the public -- not just the 1 percent.

Lee doesn't want to see tents, open flames, or any structures, says his spokeswoman Christine Falvey. Obviously, the mayor is losing some of this battle -- as OccupySF protesters continue to hide out in tents in the plaza. "He doesn't want to see those things, but how [the policy] is implemented on a minute-to-minute basis -- that's the balance," she told SF Weekly.

Falvey says the fire officials and the Department of Public Health will continue to make daily inspections of the plaza and Market Street encampment. The fire department is searching for open flames, and the DPH is scouting for accumulated garbage, spoiled food, or "anything that attracts vermin, for sure."

"The mayor wanted to make sure departments were consistent in what is and not acceptable in public space. Nothing has changed on that," Falvey said. "How individual departments are responding to the inspections is changing everyday."

Meanwhile, OccupySF is showing no signs of relenting -- or relocating. On its official website, organizers have planned agendas well into 2012. That includes next Saturday's "Protest in Suit" day, where demonstrators will don corporate wear, which is "the perfect camouflage in the Financial District."

Although, something tells us that these guys won't exactly be mistaken for Charles Schwab's new hires.

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