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Occupy L.A. Protesters Form Special Committee to Deal With City Hall's Dying Lawn

Occupy_LA_Banner.jpg
Photo by David Freid via the LAist Featured Photos pool

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What does a community striving to create an anti-corporate, quasi-utopian, leaderless way of life do when it is faced with a $50,000 problem? It forms a special committee, of course.

Protesters of Occupy L.A. have been camped out on the lawn of City Hall 24/7 for weeks with the blessing of city officials, but now the city's Department of Parks and Recreation is worried about the lawn around City Hall, according to The Daily News. It could cost as much as $50,000 to revive the lawn that has been trampled with protesters, campers and DJs.

"We know it's a problem," said Gia Trimble, a media spokesperson for Occupy L.A. "We want to fix the grass and get it back."

So the group is forming a special grass committee (no, not that kind of grass) to figure out how to fix City Hall's lawn without sticking taxpayers with the bill.

The way that protesters have been dealing with the problem is very typical of the event. They plans to solicit funds from local unions, which have been supporting the protest downtown. And city officials seem surprisingly unworried, which is yet another example of the surprisingly genial relationship between protesters and local city officials.

"I am pleased to learn that the Occupy L.A. protesters are taking proactive steps to address potential damage to our City Hall park," said City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents downtown. "And doing so in a way that respects our city and the taxpayers."

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