Isn't there like small party on one street ? Takeover of Seattle ?
It's a beefed up version of Occupy.
If they are smart, they'll fold up shop after a couple of weeks. I wouldn't put money on that, however. Seattle and Portland maintain a vigorous competition for second place in the "laudable enthusiasm directed in misguided ways" crown, which of course has been held by Berkeley/Bay Area protestors for over a decade.
In fact, it is no longer CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone), but now CHOP. There is disagreement over whether it stands for Occupied or Organized Protest. Nobody seems certain who authorized this change. Or if anyone
can authorize it. Some folks are saying the original name was planted to seem relevant to the Insurrection Act.
If all of this is making your head spin wondering how any decision making goes on, first I've been there (many times!) and it...
...doesn't get better, just fair warning. But, just wait until the spectacle factor sets in and "supporters" armed with 10,000 conspiracy theories show up. Who do you have to petition for entry?
They can add cultural art to the sidewalks and repurpose all the buildings they like into free libraries and soup kitchens, but this song and dance has been seen before. It takes more than a full pantry and some bookshelves. Delivering social services to homeless, addicts, and people with mental health issues is fraught with dangers (to providers and recipients both) and, sadly, a good amount of exploitation. While the budgets are certainly way too low for these things, the "waste, fraud, and abuse" numbers are quite low precisely because experienced administrators know how to spot a hustle.
Anyways, I could write 2 or 3 seasons of sit coms on the tropes you find in a prolonged occupation protest. At some point, especially if authorities shut down utilities and supplies, fatigue and illness set in, etc then you'll see an exodus of the moderate participants and the hard-core band will (despite the rhetoric of no leaders) coalesce around a small number of loud, aggressive (probably young and white) males.
Then it will probably transition from Occupy to Malheur.
