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Article IndexThe occupation took on a festive tone, as a drum circle formed and musicians and spoken word poets performed, led by the local band, Welfare Poets. Participants in the attempted takeover even put together an impromptu "homeless fashion show".
But dozens of police, who had gathered in the streets surrounding the lot, became increasingly firm in their demand that the group abandon their new home.
Around 5:00 PM, the "tent city" ended when NYPD dragged people out, arresting 10 organizers.
"We never gave (the police) any reason to be anything but courteous," Rice, one of those arrested, told IPS.
"You'll see people have their parking spots on the other side of that lot, and we put this orange partitioning up to let the police and owners of those vehicles know that we are not about destroying property, we are about a more equitable distribution of the property that is in the public domain," he said.
Picture the Homeless continues to aspire to find or create housing for every person in New York, and connects their struggle to those going on around the world.
"There is a connection between the townships is South Africa, the favelas in Brazil and the gentrification and displacement in Harlem," Rice told IPS.
"A few years back I was privileged to go to Porto Alegre to attend the World Social Forum, and I brought back to my organization the concept of participatory democracy," he explained.
"I was so impressed that the people in Porto Alegre actually play a real part in the budgeting process. Much of what you see here with the way PTH organizes, from the town hall meetings to the way we interact with the legislature, is a product of our experience in Porto Alegre."
Porto Alegre, Brazil, employs a "participatory budgeting" process in which everyone contributes to the formation of the city budget through citizens councils and elected representatives.
"I think participatory budgeting isn't just possible here, it's inevitable," Rice said with a smile.
"They've gotten comfortable in a situation where 10 percent of America is absorbing over 80 percent of the wealth. So here you see the beginning of a grass roots struggle that is going to make what they call 'the impossible' happen."
