Occupy L.A. Gifted With Giant Wooden Barricade on Its One Month Anniversary
Happy one month anniversary, Occupy L.A.! As your gift, the City of L.A.'s Department of General Services barricaded both a fountain and a memorial sculpture to guard both figures from your grubby paws.
Construction of a towering 20-foot wooden structure began today around 4am and wrapped in about six hours, shielding the Frank Putnam Flint Fountain and a firefighters' memorial from the masses. Mayoral spokesman Peter Sanders said that the structures have sustained non-permanent graffiti, reports LA Daily News. The fountain served as a periodic sitting spot for at least one protestor as well as a sturdy foundation from which to hang a movie screen.
City officials granted tent city occupants permission to use the wooden barrier as a canvas. Immediately after giving the creative greenlight, occupiers began spray-painting it with graffiti-esque imagery. "Power to the People" was sprayed across the west side of the fountain.
"It's all art, but it's not necessarily pleasing art," said Keaton Yale, a new occupier. He hopes that tonight's general assembly meeting at Occupy L.A. will address organizing the creation of something more "beautiful" on the barricade.
Yale also commented on the movement in general, noting some concern about the education of some occupiers. He said that "there's a lot of good here, but there's some people here that don't know why they're here."
Occupy L.A. has been gaining momentum since its inception on October 1. This morning, police counted 475 tents pitched on the 1.7-acre City Hall lawn.
