Monday, November 7, 2011

Uptowners to March On Wall Street | Northattan via www.uptowncollective.com

BY Tania Rashid (@TaniaRashid)



A coalition of community organizations, elected officials and labor unions plans to lead hundreds of Uptown residents from Washington Heights to Zuccotti Park on Monday.

This is the first time communities of color from Northern Manhattan have organized to join the Occupy Wall Street movement. The march is expected to include elected officials, community activists and members from the black and Hispanic community, and is intended to show solidarity from diverse communities around New York with the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park.

David Segal, press secretary for City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who is backing the march, said it’s inaccurate to portray the Occupy Wall Street movement to be predominantly white. “It’s important to let the rest of the city to know that people of color are in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement,” he said.

Organizers from the Occupy Wall Street protest attended a press conference announcing the march on Thursday morning in front of an abandoned building on 182nd Street and St. Nicholas. Tyler Combelic, a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street, said it was important to recognize the needs and concerns of the New York City neighborhoods that have been hardest hit by the recession. “I’m marching all 11 miles,” he said.

Read more: Uptowners to March On Wall Street | Northattan.

"End to End for 99%" — 11-mile Neighborhood March of the 99% via occupywallst.org

Posted Nov. 7, 2011, 9:17 a.m. EST by
TODAY, Monday, Nov. 7th, 10:30am
Starting at 181st Street & St. Nicholas Avenue

New York, NY – This morning (Monday, Nov. 7, starting at 10:30am) local elected officials and leaders from diverse communities as well as labor union representatives, and grassroots activists will march eleven miles to connect New York’s communities with the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The “End to End for 99%” march will launch in Washington Heights (181st and St. Nicholas) at 10:30am and work South through Harlem on its way to Zuccotti Park, where it will join Occupy Wall Street protesters in solidarity.

“Our communities have been devastated by the economic assault on middle class and poor families, even as Wall Street has enjoyed a historic financial bonanza,” said State Senator Adriano Espaillat (Manhattan/Bronx). “We are marching together because we want to stand up for the 99% who have been left behind in this economy and build a stronger society that works for all Americans, not just the select few.”

Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez said: "When we march on Monday, we're marching for jobs, we're marching for affordable housing, we're marching for a millionaire's tax. On Monday we are marching to let the city know that the 99% in Northern Manhattan are calling for justice.”

Tyler Combelic, a volunteer with Occupy Wall Street said: “We're proud to stand with our brothers and sisters from diverse communities around New York. We know that communities of color have been especially hard hit by a system that promotes inequality and punishes everyday Americans in favor of Big Banks and the Corporate Elite. We are ready to work together to build a stronger, more equitable America."

New Yorkers from all walks of life will join the march at various points in its 11-mile route. The march will culminate in a solidarity protest at Zuccotti Park, where activists have been gathered to call for fundamental changes to economic policies and our political system.

"Profits and CEO pay are up on Wall Street and in corporate board rooms, but the recession hasn’t ended in our neighborhoods or in working class communities across America," said Wilfredo Larancuent, a leader in the Working Families Party, and in Workers United. “We need to stand together. We are the 99%."

The march announcement was joined by various local non-profit groups who are supporting the Occupy Wall Street Movement, including United NY, New York Communities for Change Project, NAACP, Alianza Dominican, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, Community Board 12, Centro Altragracia, and many others.

Friday, November 4, 2011

From Washington Heights to Wall Street, join us as we march through our communities, starting from the Northern Tip of Manhattan to Zucotti Park, where we will join the Occupy Wall Street protest in Solidarity.

Harlemites Occupy Themselves With An 11-mile Walk to Wall Street via harlemworldblog.wordpress.com

Harlem and upper Manhattan leaders and residents are getting their walking shoes ready for an 11-mile walk to join the Occupy Wall Street movement in lower Manhattan.

Community leaders, Harlem residents and labor union representatives will come together at W. 181st St. and St. Nicholas Ave. on Monday morning to march down Broadway to Zuccotti Park.

The walk, called the “End to End for 99%” march, is expected to be lead by leaders state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and Councilwoman Inez Dickens.

“We felt that it was a good gesture of solidarity,” Espaillat told the Daily News on Thursday. “It shows that Manhattan is together with this (movement).”

This march also provides an opportunity to involve more residents from Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood in the effort, he said.

“There’s a lot of people that are being impacted that live in these neighborhoods,” Espaillat said. “Some people haven’t had a chance to go down there, and as we walk down there we will be dragging people with us. We hope to see people join us in Harlem, in the West Side, in Chelsea.”

Everyone is invited to participate, he said, putting out the call to “regular folks that are fed up with the state of the economy.”

The Occupy Wall Street protest started 48 days ago as a general cry of anger at financial inequality and it has rapidly spread around the world. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested since the protests began.

The uptown leaders formally announced the march Thursday in a press conference held in front of an abandoned apartment building on W. 182nd St. in Washington Heights to show the blight that remains uptown.

Espaillat says he’s ready for the walk, and he doesn’t plan to hop in a cab or jump on the subway on the way downtown.

“I’m going to walk it,” he said. “I got some new walking shoes.”

Thursday, November 3, 2011

OWS to hold 'end to end' protest via Washington Square News

New York state senator Adriano Espaillat and New York city councilman Ydanis Rodríguez spoke to the Washington Heights Latino community yesterday morning about plans for this upcoming Monday's "End to End for 99 percent" march.

The 11-mile Occupy Wall Street march will begin at the same abandoned apartment building Espaillat spoke at yesterday, since the edifice is a local symbol of the crippling effects the country's economic situation has had on the community.

Continuing on from Northern Manhattan to Zuccotti Park, the community's march aims to spread OWS's message across all of New York City. Espaillat and Rodríguez invited all New Yorkers, in both English and Spanish, to walk in solidarity with the movement.

"We say enough is enough," Rodríguez said. "It is not fair to leave communities behind. This movement is about closing the gap between the working class, the middle class, the unemployed and the wealthy sector. We want to give color to the movement."

Noting the disparity in financial and educational opportunity between the wealthy and the Washington Heights community, Espaillat and Rodríguez said their goal is to promote action toward more accessible education, more jobs, universal health care and a millionaire's tax.

"In addition to education and housing, we [need] to have a robust working class," Espaillat said. "We need change from end to end of Manhattan. That is what gives the name to our march."

After the announcement, Espaillat and Rodríguez were also joined by city officials, including New York City Council Member Inez Dickens and pro-OWS activists from organizations like United New York, Workers United, Centro Altagracia de Fe y Justicia, the Transit Workers Union and the New York Civic Participation Project.

"This is not a message that is unique," said Lucia Gomez, executive director of the NYCPP. "We want justice. We want equality. We want to make sure it is everybody's message. This is not different from you. This is about you."

Washington Heights resident Jeff Smith said the people are realizing their voices can be heard.
"We have power as a megaphone," he said. "People are starting to hear the message. It's universal what we're talking about."

The march will start on Monday, Nov. 7 at 10:30 a.m. on 181st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.