This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Much has made of the reported 30 tons of debris hazmat teams were called in to remove after the city moved in to shut down Occupy L.A.'s two-month encampment on the lawn of City Hall. But there's one relic that the mayor doesn't consider "debris" at all: the mural at the heart of the camp.
The mural — painted onto a 20-foot piece of plywood meant to protect the water fountain from vandalism in the park — illustrates the worldview of the Occupy protestors. An angry, greedy octopus crowned by the federal reserve bank uses its tentacles to reach out to take a cut of money from foreclosed homes. There are oil derricks and an industrial skyline belching fumes in a dystopian scene. The call to action is: "Take the power back." The mayor is hoping to save this scene.
"The mayor's office recognizes that this has historical significance so we're working together to make sure that we come up with a good and appropriate solution," Olga Garay-English, the executive director of the city's Department of Cultural Affairs told the Los Angeles Times.
That solution might mean storing it or working on coming up with the right place to display it, and many local art groups are eager to save the mural. Carol Wells, the executive director for the Center for the Study of Political Graphics based in Los Angeles, told the Times that the mural will be a "tangible reminder of this movement."
Protestor Kim Cooper suggested the mayor's office focus first on freeing the people behind the protest who were held in jail.
KCET ponders the messy symbolism of the mayor saving a reminder of a camp that he evicted:
It could be saved as an artifact that marks the intent of a movement that first had support from City Hall, or be a reminder of how there was a line of communication between the city and the movement where both sides "had respect for each other," as the Mayor said during the day-after press conference.
