The positive political message of the Occupy movement was increasingly drowned out by a drumbeat of negative headlines, including an alleged rape over the weekend and increasingly unsanitary conditions. Police yesterday made two more arrests and said someone painted the concourse walls below the plaza with feces and graffiti.
Not long after a homeless man was punched in the face at Occupy Philly yesterday afternoon, a group of people confronted another homeless man sitting along the north end of City Hall. He had been accused of being a "sexual predator" who often "bumps and grinds" up against women, said the woman who confronted him, loudly.
Police spoke with the man for several minutes. Then he went and got free ice cream. "Why can't we all just eat ice cream and get along?" a man in camouflage yelled in the middle of it all.
Last night, with Occupy Philly clearly teetering on the brink, there was suddenly hope that the Nutter administration and a so-called sensible group of longtime occupiers could reach an agreement on a new location.
Such a plan would allow for the start of a $50 million project to remake Dilworth Plaza on the west apron of City Hall - but it could also still lead to an eventual confrontation between police and a "radical" caucus who seem determined to stay at Dilworth no matter what.
City Managing Director Richard Negrin said his office had a breakthrough during a meeting yesterday with about 25 members of Occupy Philly's "Reasonable Solutions People."
"They expressed a willingness to work together and to relocate," Negrin said. "They agreed to weekly meetings and having an ongoing dialogue. It was very positive."
