The Occupy Wall Street Uprising and the U.S. Labor Movement: An Interview with Steve Early, Jon Flanders, Stephanie Luce, and Jim Straub

by

Farooque Chowdhury and Michael D. Yates

The Occupy Wall Street Uprising has taken the nation by storm, beginning in the Financial District in Manhattan and then spreading to cities and towns in every part of the country and around the world. The anger over growing inequality and the political power of the rich that has been bubbling under the surface for the past several years has finally burst into the open. Suddenly, everything seems different, and a political opening for more radical thinking and acting is certainly at hand.

One especially important opening is the possible alliance between those who are organizing OWS efforts and the labor movement. Workers are the 99 percent, and their organization as workers within the OWS framework could help to transform an uprising into a movement for a radical transformation of what is a sick and dehumanizing social system. Most OWS organizers, participants, and supporters are members of the working class, and thousands of rank-and-file union members have participated in and offered material aid to OWS. And recently, OWS encampments in various places have taken up specific labor struggles, while labor OWS contingents have spearheaded other concrete actions. These have included OWS Atlanta support for people facing foreclosures, New York City OWS protests on behalf of workers at Sothebys, and, most dramatically, OWS Oakland’s massive march that shut the Port of Oakland. An “Out of the Park and Into the Streets” demonstration called by Occupy Wall Street in New York City for November 17 has been endorsed by scores of unions.

Workers, simply as a function of their daily activities on the job, can do what no one else can—stop production and the flow of profits that are the lifeblood of capitalist economies. Nothing would shake the powers that be more than the threat of a militant, organized working class, ready to demonstrate, picket, strike, boycott, and agitate against every manner of corporate and political outrage, from unconscionable bank fees to unbearable student loans to the super exploitation of immigrants to wars to, well, you name it.

However, if the embrace of OWS by the labor movement is an exciting prospect, it is not without its problems. United Auto Workers dissident Greg Shotwell put it bluntly and directly when he said,

Occupiers should be wary of trusting union leaders who have consistently undermined, sold out, and betrayed every militant uprising or cry for more democracy in the labor movement. Most union leaders in the U.S. are wedded to the prostitution of social ideals. Every union in the United States is in thrall to the number one pimp on Wall Street, the Democratic Party. Concession and compromise to the One Percent is the M.O. of U.S. unions. Rank and file workers should be able to see themselves in the bloody skull of Iraq War veteran, Scott Olsen, struck dumb by Oakland police. Every day workers make heroic sacrifices to provide a dignified life for their families. Every day union leaders shoot down workers’ aspirations and incapacitate any chance workers have to shield their families from the latest act of economic terrorism.

Where is the union leader in the United States today who has the temerity to defy the capitalist oligarchy? For the most part, we don’t have genuine union leaders, we have corporate servants with union titles and six figure salaries. When U.S. corporations invested profits “Made in America” overseas, labor unions in the U.S. cut wages for new hires and blamed foreign competition. When U.S. corporations underfunded pensions, U.S. labor leaders forced retirees to make sacrifices.

The operable word for rank and file workers isn’t competition, concession, or compromise. The operable word is Occupy.

In order to assess the connections between OWS and the labor movement, we conducted email interviews with four labor activists during the first two weeks of November 2012. Collectively, our interviewees have spent many decades agitating, organizing, negotiating, writing, and teaching on behalf of the working class. Steve Early worked as a New England–based organizer and international representative for the Communications Workers of America between 1980 and 2007. He is the author of Embedded With Organized Labor (Monthly Review Press, 2009) and The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor (Haymarket Books, 2011). Jon Flanders is a railroad machinist, past president of his IAM local, co-chair of Railroad Workers United, a cross-craft caucus of railroaders, and Trustee of the Troy Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Stephanie Luce is an Associate Professor at the Murphy Institute, City University of New York. She was a founding member of the Student Labor Action Coalition in Madison, Wisconsin, and active in the Teaching Assistants Association. She is the author of Fighting for a Living Wage, and co-author of The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy and The Measure of Fairness as well as many articles and book chapters on low-wage work, globalization, and labor and community organizing. Jim Straub has been active in the anti-war, global AIDS treatment, and labor movements for more than a decade. Since 2004 he has worked for the US union of healthcare, building service and public sector workers SEIU, in Ohio, Nevada, Los Angeles and Washington state. He lives in Tacoma, Washington.[Note that the interviewees were able to choose which of our questions they answered. So each question has not been answered by each interviewee]

Chowdhury and Yates (hereinafter C&Y): What are your impressions of the OWS Uprising?

Stephanie Luce: Occupy Wall Street is the moment we’ve been waiting for. It isn’t perfect and it is often messy, but it somehow has become the message and movement to unite hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of isolated individuals who have been suffering in the worsening economy and feeling alienated and demoralized.

In the past decade, labor and left leaders have been scrambling to find the thing that would catch on: national networks, new slogans, targeted campaigns. Some had limited success but nothing seemed to click. Why this?

I’d argue that one reason the OWS has flourished is precisely because it wasn’t coordinated and imposed from above. There was no consultant hired to “message” the movement, no mass produced signs and t-shirts. Those who joined the initial occupation on September 17, and probably everyone who has participated since, have felt some ownership of this movement.

Jon Flanders: The occupation movement represents both a generational shift and abeginning of much broader class consciousness in the United States.

Generational, because for the first time, a movement has emerged that is not led by boomers of the anti-Vietnam War era. After the initial huge outpouring of opposition to the Iraq war, everything quieted down, despite the best efforts of experienced organizers who thought that history would repeat itself. Instead, it became clear that the young people did not see this war as an issue for them, partly because there was no draft, but also because they were preoccupied with getting a start in life in an increasingly difficult economy.

Class conscious, because the realization finally sank in for the young ones that things were not going to get better, that in fact they were dealing with a corrupt and rigged political system that had no place for them, except as indentured debt slaves. The initial awakening was in Wisconsin, now it has spread countrywide, and the class genie is out of the bottle.

C&Y: Do you think that the Chicago factory occupation (United Electrical Workers) and the Wisconsin uprising were important precursors of OWS? If so, how?

Steve Early: OWS is a very worthy successor to the Wisconsin uprising (and UE’s 2008 plant occupation) and will be long remembered even if it leaves no other historical footprints than its brilliant popular “framing” of the deepening class divide in this country.

Jon Flanders: Yes, they were both important, Wisconsin more so I would say. Althoughin the long run, perhaps the factory occupation will be more important, since to really have an impact on power, workers must weigh in. Wisconsin had more influence with capitol. A leading young trade union activist from this area went out to Madison, slept on the floor, and came back inspired. Now he is marching to NYC from Albany with a group of Communication Workers of America (CWA).

Jim Straub: I do not think the Republic Windows occupation was a precursor. Honestly I think that event was significantly overhyped by leftists who projected their own fantasies onto what was essentially a very small, marginal struggle, by a left-wing union that unfortunately has practically no members left.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, I think was a very remarkable mass uprising; I spent a month there working on the struggle for SEIU, and it was among the greatest experiences of my life. I think Wisconsin’s eruption may go down in history as being the decisive thing that helped stop the Republican’s attempt to essentially abolish what remains of labor unions at this moment in America. We all owe the “cheeseheads” a debt of gratitude for that.

I am not sure how much it is a precursor though—Wisconsin is a very particular sort of state, with a deeply ingrained tradition of progressive politics, active public sector unions, and a distinctive regional culture that values people pulling together for the common good. For instance, I often warn people that if the Republicans win the presidency next year and pass a Wisconsin-style bill nationwide, I do NOT think there would be forty-nine big eruptions in the rest of the country similar to the one in Wisconsin. In that sense, we should all thank the Republicans for making such a foolish choice of a location to have their showdown against the unions.

However, I think you could say this: the enthusiasm a large portion of the public has shown for both the Chicago Republic Windows action, and the Wisconsin uprising, is part and parcel of a sense of anger about wealth inequality and the erosion of the middle class that has been building for some time but which has not been addressed by anything in mainstream politics. That same growing sense of unease is, I think, behind the surprisingly high public support for OWS.

C&Y: Have rank-and file union participants and supporters of OWS been active in OWS as visible union members or simply as concerned citizens? Is there a difference between leadership and rank and file support for OWS?

Stephanie Luce: In the early days of OWS, there were a number of union members who participated. They were not representing their unions, but a number of them identify strongly as labor activists. A few of those people were members of Transport Workers Union Local 100, and they were instrumental in getting their union to come out in support of OWS a week and a half into the occupation.

As the movement has flourished, we’ve seen a large number of union members get involved. Some come on their own time and sit at the union table in the park. Some are in working groups. Some come to bring supplies. But when there are specific actions or marches, we also see people participating as union members, such as the October 5 rally and march, or the black/brown unity march sponsored by the Coalition of Black Trade Unions and other AFL-CIO affinity organizations. Union members showed up on the morning that Bloomberg threatened to kick out the protestors to clean the park. Union leaders and staff have been present at these events too – sometimes leading delegations, and occasionally their on their own.

Steve Early: During the two-week strike by 45,000 Verizon workers in August, union PR people issued leaflets urging support for their “fight to defend middle-class jobs.” This characterization of strike goals enabled Verizon to run newspaper ads claiming that the $75,000 a year or more earned by telephone technicians made them part of the “upper middle class”—and thus, apparently not worthy of sympathy from customers or members of the public whose jobs provide family incomes closer to the national or regional average.

At this OWS-inspired and related event, Verizon workers were brandishing new contract campaign signs with a far better, more universalist message: “We are the 99 percent!”

Jim Straub: In terms of the first question, a little of both. In any active union, you have a handful of very active activists, who would be involved in left protest politics no matter what; when these folks participate in their various left activities they often make a point to make their union membership a visible part of who they are. I would bet you have some folks like that who have been hanging out at the occupation camps, going to assemblies, etc. And then if you checked everyone sleeping over at the occupations, I’m sure you’d find a few people who are union members in their work life. But like I said, the larger portion of union member involvement has been more limited—going to one of the big OWS affiliate march with their union contingent, etc.

The original New York City Wall Street Occupation was planned by folks from the protest-oriented radical left, without early involvement from unions. I think most expected it to have the small, limited impact that the average left demo does (I know some of the early organizers from years back). However, social media videos of NYPD officers attacking the demonstrators gave it wider exposure, and when its message against wealth inequality and the finance industry got out there, it struck a chord with the public in general.

When this happened and the demonstration blew up, many of the more active unions got involved, to different degrees depending on the city and the union. For instance, in New York City and many other cities, the unions have mobilized thousands of members to big marches connected to the OWS; in a number of cities activists from unions have been integral part of the organization of the actual occupation camps; and in many other places, the unions provide assistance by donating food and tents and tarps or otherwise. For example, my friend Heather is helping run the food kitchen at OWS in New York, and just texted me that SEIU’s big powerhouse healthcare workers’ union there, 1199, donated 500 chicken dinners and brought members down to help serve. Another example is Pittsburgh, where some people I know at the SEIU local there have been using their personal time to mobilize the people at the occupation camp to do protests at various banks, and have been working to broaden the appeal of the camp beyond its mainly subcultural youth participants.

The situation I know best is here in Seattle. My local, SEIU 775, has mobilized a few hundred people four times for demonstrations at the occupation; we donated a lot of ponchos and tents; and we used our good relationship with Seattle’s mayor to intervene a few times and try to negotiate for him to let the tents stay up (ultimately unsuccessful). We probably have a handful of activists who’ve been involved at the occupation camp and general assemblies, but only just a few. One thing I would note is that while the OWS message is resonating with average working people, the occupation camps and general assemblies are much more geared to subcultural youth and hardcore leftists; I suspect for all of labor’s involvement in the ways I described above, there have still been very few actual union members camping out and hanging out at the occupations.

One thing I would like to point out that isn’t common knowledge: the union I work for, SEIU, is known in the United States for being one of the few unions still able to organize and grow, even in the private sector. But ironically, for the past year, we have directed a lot of the resources we normally put into new organizing, into a campaign we call “The Fight For A Fair Economy.” This has involved canvassing working-class neighborhoods and organizing lots of protests in lots of cities around economic issues in general. Anyway, there is some humorous irony in the fact that SEIU has been expending all this organizational resource and effort into trying to spark an upsurge of economic anger in politics, and then along comes some protesters occupying Wall Street, and they have the success SEIU was trying to generate! Anyway, we haven’t been jealous or whatever and we basically have just folded our Fight For A Fair Economy protest activity into the Occupations all over the country. Who knows if our own efforts were part of laying the groundwork in public sentiment for the enthusiasm over OWS? Regardless, I think you could say that it’s a rare moment of unions and the radical protest left having perfectly converging goals that result in success for all.

C&Y: What role has the leadership of organized labor been playing in the OWS uprising?

Steve Early: As reported in the New York Times on Nov. 9, 2011, union leaders have been making regular visits to our new Lourdes—aka Zuccotti Park—and similar high-profile camping sites around the country. Earlier this year, they were jetting into Cairo-by-the Lake in Wisconsin (aka Madison) in a similar quest for an infusion of young blood and “new energy” out there. I’m personally a little skeptical about what miraculous transformations are likely to occur among the organizationally old, blind, and lame of American labor, as a result of either pilgrimage. RWDSU president Stuart Applebaum claims that “the Occupy movement has changed unions,” both in the area of membership mobilization and “messaging.” See more thoughts below on OWS’s helpful influence in the latter area. As for mainstream unions suddenly embracing greater direct action and militancy by their own rank-and-file, that kind of changes usually comes from the bottom up, not the top down.

Jim Straub: Most active, progressive-oriented unions have supported the Occupation protests to varying degrees, which I think reflects the leadership’s enthusiasm that finally someone has managed to put the issue of wealth inequality front and center in the public eye.

Among the rank and file, well, I think it would be difficult to generalize accurately about rank and file workers view of OWS. Many I am sure are simply unaware—the U.S. public remains deeply depoliticized, without a present-day tradition of mass struggle or collective action improving standards of living. However, opinion polls have shown that roughly a majority of respondents in the United States today have a positive view of OWS and agree with some of the message. I would strongly suspect that that percentage goes way up among poorer people, urban people, people of color, women, and progressives. And the portion of union membership that is dynamic and growing is among those demographics. So I think we can infer that, to the degree that union members are aware and interested, there is significant support for the OWS. I can tell you that in my own day-to-day work as a rep for a nursing home workers’ union, two times a member has brought the topic up to me unsolicited and talked about how great they think it is. One of those times, the worker’s views were that he was excited the unions were getting involved in the Occupy Wall Street, so that “it didn’t just look like a bunch of hippies.” I think this was a very telling comment—in the United States, the public often sees left protest as being for countercultural types, rebellious college students going through a phase, etc, and when protesters seem for whatever reason to be culturally different from average working people, it plays into this stereotype and limits the ability of the protest to grow.

C&Y: How can OWS and organize labor best interact? What about selective strikes and similar actions? Do you think that rank and file movements in unions could be strengthened by OWS? Can unions learn anything from the way OWS is structured?

Stephanie Luce: One of the amazing things about OWS in New York has been the degree to which organized labor has come on in support, and been able to intersect some of its own organizing with that of OWS. There is a long way to go, but this level of interaction seems remarkable to me in this city where unions have been known to be insular and not good at working with others. Unions have already contributed support in a variety of ways: offering money, food, medical training, supplies, meeting space, storage space, and publicity.

And OWS has participated in ongoing labor activities, from the campaign to get a contract at Verizon, to supporting locked-out Teamsters at Sothebys. Public sector unions have been fighting to extend the millionaire’s tax in New York, and on October 11, 2011, the 99 percent and unions joined together for a march against the millionaires and billionaires.

The general assembly, consensus model has drawbacks. It can be used poorly in ways that allow a small minority to block consensus, and control decisions. With large groups of people, it can be possible for small cliques to develop and function in non-transparent ways. But the same can be said for our other models of functioning—notably, traditional union structures.

Despite its weaknesses, the Occupy model can provide tremendous inspiration for rank-and-file unionists. It has worked so far to allow “ordinary people” to feel they are participating in democratic decision-making for the first time in their lives. They have seen how it’s possible to develop an idea and run with it, working to organize with others to make their vision a reality. The horizontalist model is new for many union members, and will take some work to learn and develop, but is a tool that can strengthen movements.

OWS provides another important lesson for unions, which I think expands on the UE fight at Republic Windows and Doors, and the fight back in Wisconsin. The lesson is that we should not be afraid of “the public.” Unions have been spending millions of dollars on consultants, polls and focus groups to craft a careful message that will play with the public. But the messages that come out of these tend to be ones that people have been hearing in the media and from politicians. They tend to be conservative, backward looking messages, and not ones that push people to new ideas and greater possibilities.

No focus group would have come up with the “message” of a plant takeover in Chicago. And no poll would have predicted that a mass teacher walkout and citizen take-over of the Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin was a wise public relations strategy.

Instead, the labor movement has been trying to frame itself as “reasonable.” Top union leaders in Wisconsin stated emphatically that they were “only asking for the right to collective bargaining.” The same is true with the Verizon strike in August, where union leaders said they were on strike “for the right to bargain.” Unions and labor coalitions declare that they are just trying to save the middle class, or reclaim the American Dream: nothing radical, nothing confrontational.

OWS turns that idea on its head, and within a few weeks, with no consultants and no polling, asserts a very bold and expansive “message”: we are the 99 percent, we are in a class war against the 1 percent, we demand public space, we demand the right to protest, we want another world. OWS uses images that link its fight with the Arab Spring, suggesting that our fight is a fundamental struggle for democracy and basic human rights. These are bold, visionary demands, and ones that ignite the public imagination.

Steve Early: See Verizon-related examples of positive interaction at the rank-and-file level above. Yes, the model of more democratic decision-making, direct action, civil disobedience is very helpful. It shows how collective activity can be organized differently, with staff and full-time officials running everything—or trying to. Real challenge will be transferring OWS approach to the traditional arena of union struggle.

I think one labor leader quoted in the New York Times today really nailed that challenge well. Said Los Angeles Central Labor Council’s Elena Durazo:

The question is: can the labor movement or the occupy movement move its message about inequality down to the workplace, where workers confront low wages, low benefits, and little power? Can we use it organize workers where it really matters, in the workplace, to help their everyday life.

Jim Straub: I think the interaction has been pretty good. About strikes, we should remember that given the extreme weakness of U.S. unions, most unions can’t win a strike in defense of their own immediate needs, much less leverage their strike power to advance larger political goals. Given that unions now represent something like 12 percent of the workforce, and are having extreme trouble in a good portion of that 12 percent, I think it would be a silly and potentially disastrous miscalculation for us to try to use strikes to advance political goals. Strikes are inherently divisive both among members and the public in general, and give an opponent aid in tarnishing your reputation and even legal grounds to dissolve your formal collective bargaining status. Labor needs to rebuild to something like 25, 30 percent before it can start using mass strikes as a useful political weapon again.

In terms of unions learning from the OWS structure, I guess it depends what you mean by OWS structure. If you mean the large group assemblies, using some version of modified consensus to make decisions and “mic check” and all that, I would say, definitely not. I spent many years in such meetings when I was an activist in various left groups, and I can say from my experience, it is the worst most counterproductive form of decision-making or organization-building in the world.

Jon Flanders: Both OWS and labor need each other. OWS needs labor’s muscle; laborneeds the creativity and energy of OWS youth. And, of course, mutual aid works; witness the labor mobilization that kept Mayor Bloomberg from shutting down OWS, and the aforementioned solidarity actions by OWS with locked out Teamsters.

I think a real test in New York City will come around a possible transit strike. The president of TWU 100 has said they will make no concessions if New York does not re-instate the millionaires’ tax. Cuomo will not back down on this, so some kind of confrontation seems inevitable. Here we will have the confluence of a workers struggle very much tied to the OWS agenda vis-a-vis Wall Street. We can only imagine the scenes that might unfold in NYC if the subways and buses stop running and people are forced to walk to work. There will be plenty of chances for workers and OWS activists to interact and work on targets of opportunity.

C&Y: Given labor’s ties to the Democratic Party, are there reasons for OWS to be distrustful of organized labor’s support for OWS?

Stephanie Luce: Many people—including some rank-and-file union members and union staff—are wary that unions will try to channel OWS energy into electoral work. Polls show that a large number of OWS participants are disgruntled Democrats, moved to action out of disappointment in Obama. But OWS has been a truly democratic space. In this sense, it will be hard to coopt the movement without some serious internal organizing. While union leaders have control over where they put their own energy and resources, the same is not true in the Occupy movement. If they propose an action that people don’t want to do, no one will show up.

Steve Early: In his 1974 memoir and union history, Jim Matles, a founder of the UE, reminded readers that labor struggles are about “them and us”—or, as OWS puts it, “the 1 percent” vs. the “99 percent.” Unfortunately, most other unions have long relied on high-priced Democratic Party consultants, their focus groups and opinion polling, to shape labor’s public “messaging” in much less effective fashion. The results of this collaboration have been unhelpful, to say the least. Organizations that are supposed to the voice of the working class majority have instead positioned themselves—narrowly and confusedly—as defenders of America’s “middle class,” an always fuzzy construct now being rendered even less meaningful by the recession-driven downward mobility of millions of people.

As SUNY professor Michael Zweig has argued in his book, The Working Class Majority: America’s Best-Kept Secret (Cornell ILR Press, 2000), labor’s never ending mantra about the “middle class” leaves class relations—and the actual class position of most of the population—shrouded in rhetorical fog. Zweig acknowledges that the working class in America today looks quite different than the blue-collar proletariat of the last century, which leads many to believe that differences in “status, income, or life-styles” define where they stand on the economic and social ladder. But “the real basis of social class lies in the varying amounts of power people have at work and in the larger society….The sooner we realize that classes exist and understand the power relations that are driving the economic and political changes swirling around us, the sooner we will be able to build an openly working class politics.”

As Zweig would agree I’m sure, labor’s “framing” not only lacks the clear resonance of that employed by the new anti-capitalist campaigners of OWS; “one of the great weaknesses” of the standard union view of class “is that it confuses the target of political conflict.” When the working class disappears into an amorphous “middle class,” not only do the “working poor” (a mere 46 million strong) drop out of the picture, but “the capitalist class disappears into ‘the rich.’ And when the capitalist class disappears from view, it cannot be a target.”

Well, thanks to OWS—but not most unions—that target is back in view, big time. So now, even some union officials are racing to catch up with a grassroots movement that has provided a far more favorable public opinion context for waging key contract fights like the ongoing CWA-IBEW battle with Verizon.

Jon Flanders: Certainly union leaders are hoping that they can corral some of this energy into 2012 political campaigns. They were successful in doing this in Wisconsin, with the less then inspiring recall effort. Now however, they are up against the reality that the occupiers, probably in their majority were supporters of Obama, are now deeply disappointed and no longer believe that elections mean that much. I seriously doubt that they can win many of them to be campaign foot soldiers. Instead I suspect that occupations will morph into new direct actions, like opposing evictions, strikesolidarity etc.

Jim Straub: Haha, I think the unions would love to have as close of ties to the Democratic Party as most leftists allege. They no longer have much juice at all with the Dems. I look at it this way: in the United States, we have a center party and a far-right party. Attempts to start other parties have met with roughly zero success, and our political structure makes smaller parties fairly useless. So because the far-right party will absolutely attempt to wipe them out of existence (as in Wisconsin and Ohio last year, for instance), labor goes to great efforts to try to make sure the center party beats the far-right one. Is the center party also part of our problem? Certainly. After all, some of what has been so popular about OWS is it is attacking finance, which the Dems cannot do because they are if anything more owned by the financial sector that the Republicans. But at the end of the day, I don’t think anyone has a good plan for how to deal with the problems our political system poses for the left and for unions.

One thing I would point out, though, is that from polls that have been done of the attendees at Occupy protests, we have learned that a large portion are left-leaning Democratic voters who are unhappy with their party, and who say they want OWS to pull the Dems to the left just like the Tea Party has pulled the Republicans further right. I think that would be a good goal.

C&Y: How do you see OWS unfolding? Can OWS continue to expand without the active involvement of organized labor?

Stephanie Luce: OWS continues to surprise and amaze me, making it hard to predict where it is going. Every day it seems possible that the movement will die, given police brutality and political crackdowns. There are infiltrators and provocateurs, and serious debates about direction and strategy. There are internal problems related to living in tight quarters and having to learn how to self-govern in communities of strangers. The cold weather is brutal.

Yet the movement keeps going, and expanding! In many cities, the Occupations have begun to intersect with already existing organizations and activism, such as fights against foreclosures and tuition hikes. Even if the Occupation camps themselves dwindle, it is hard to believe there is any going backwards from here.

The labor movement will not be able to revitalize itself by coopting OWS. It will only benefit if it remains flexible and open, allowing the energy of Occupy to pull the labor movement to the left, to more radical demands and more militant tactics. Occupy must serve as a home base to unite seemingly disparate struggles, providing a larger narrative and maintaining a more revolutionary vision of how to do politics and how to rebuild the world. We’ve been failing in our struggles in part because we’ve been atomized, leading unions to believe that they can focus energy on a contract fight to “save the middle class,” while ignoring the growing poverty among their unemployed neighbors. Unions believed they can change the world by turning out voters to elect labor-endorsed candidates who then build more prisons and allow more deportations.

For many decades, the left has been without a competing vision for the world. With the supposed triumph of capitalism we had nothing to point to as an alternative. Occupy encampments have their challenges, but as people do the hard work to communicate and work together, to feed and care for one another, to learn how to collectivize space and self-govern, perhaps they can provide some reality to the slogan “Another World is Possible.”

Steve Early: The Occupation movement has been unfairly but predictably criticized in the mainstream media for having an ill-defined political agenda and no clear path to institutionalizing its struggle against longstanding abuses of corporate power in America. While all that gets sorted out in its free-wheeling “general assemblies around the country, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has already given our timorous, unimaginative, and often politically confused unions a much-needed ideological dope slap, as noted above in discussion of pre- and post-OWS “framing” of key labor struggles. Organizationally, OWS would do well to attach itself—and that’s already happened in places like Portland, Oregon—to Jobs with Justice, the “action faction” of the labor movement most capable of interacting productively with more amorphous student/community forces.

Jon Flanders: Occupations will have to reach out to workers if they want to becometruly powerful. Right now, they are attracting some young workers and getting them excited about direct democracy, something that is sorely missing in most unions. Workers who are not hanging out with Occupations will need to see concrete acts of solidarity coming their way, as the Teamsters at Sotheby’s in New York City have done.

Jim Straub: I don’t know that OWS needs to continue expanding. It was a protest wave that succeeded far beyond anyone’s hopes, and has shown us that there is a hunger out there in America for somebody to stick it to the banks. But at some point camping out in these particular places will outlive its usefulness as a visibility tactic. I don’t know what will be the next big protest wave, but I know we will need one to resist the coming demands for austerity and cutbacks. Is it important that whatever happens next be called “occupy so and so” and include campouts and such? Maybe, but also maybe something else.

We on the left have a weakness for getting stuck on something if it seems to work once. For instance, after the anti-corporate protests against the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999, the entire U.S. left threw all its energy into attempting to shut down other meetings of trade bodies for the next five years, with a declining rate of success and relevance.

I think most cities will have their police clear the protest camps out of the visible downtown locations over the next couple weeks. Those encampments that remain will dwindle in the cold weather and eventually be abandoned. Eventually, the fickle public majority that has expressed support will move on. The pattern of the protest-based left in the United States seems to be that every few years, the left is part of an eruption of protest around an issue that captivates a large portion of the country in a dramatic way, and then recedes without having left behind any ongoing organization. The anti-corporate globalization protests of 99-01, the antiwar protests of 04, the immigrant protests of 06, Wisconsin and OWS in ’12. Who knows what the next one will be, but I bet it will erupt in two to four years.

Regardless, my own opinion is that we need to rebuild the ongoing, day-to-day institutions of a mass left, like the labor movement. So I spend a lot more of my political energy trying to help grow the power of the union for which I work than going to protests anymore. But it was been a wonderful thing, in Wisconsin and then during the occupy thing, going to some great inspiring protests again. I hope these upsurges come more often and with more intensity.

C&Y: Thank you all for your remarks. We think that readers are going to find them of great interest.

This post first appeared in mrzine at mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/cy151111.html

Article Sources: Occupy Wall Street and the U.S. Labor Movement

IT SAYS a lot about standards in the licensed trade that the first national quality assurance scheme for pubs has only recently been introduced.

For years, tourists using hotels, bed and breakfasts and self-catering accommodation have been able to choose Fáilte Ireland-approved establishments offering defined minimum standards of accommodation. Up to now, however, entering a pub could be something of a lucky dip experience for visitors; at times enjoyable and even magical, but also sometimes disappointing or off-putting.

“In every other area, visitors had an element of choice but not when it came to pubs – here, a pub was a pub was a pub,” says Tony Lenehan, head of industry services at Fáilte Ireland. “You never knew what you were getting until you were inside the door.”

While one man’s dark, dingy pub could be another’s ideal tourist experience, there was a growing recognition of the need for more emphasis on standards and quality. Recognition that work needed to be done is implicit in the title of the accreditation scheme, Raising the Bar.

So far, 200 pubs have been accredited under the scheme, and are entitled to use the identifying shamrock logo, with another 100 in the pipeline. “It means anyone who enters a pub can expect certain standards in all aspects of their journey within the establishment,” says Lenehan.

The scheme is just one facet of a growing recognition of the importance of the pub for Irish tourism. The recently-published Lonely Planet guide to Ireland was merely stating the obvious when it pointed out that the pub was the country’s principal tourist attraction.

“The pub is probably the number one image associated with Ireland. It paints an attractive picture of sympathetic camaraderie, good fellowship, music and storytelling, even if this is actually a somewhat outdated view of Irish life,” says Prof Mary Lambkin of UCD Smurfit school of business. “It’s part of our vernacular heritage just as much as museums and churches. It should be possible to keep what’s best about this heritage.”

But just because tourists like the idea of the pub before they come doesn’t mean they will be satisfied with the reality during their holiday. And the fact that most tourists frequent pubs during their stay in Ireland won’t solve the problems facing many pubs in non-tourist areas.

Fáilte Ireland’s extensive research tells us that although visitors do enjoy the pub their priorities are often different from those of local people. “They want more from pubs than just the drink. In fact, that’s well down the list. They say they are interested in meeting local people, in music and in food,” says Lenehan.

In many ways, the tourist’s idea of a good Irish pub equates to the future the sector plans to deliver to all its customers. It’s part back to basics – a renewed emphasis on people, for instance – and part specialisation, with different pubs focusing on music, food or sport.

Lenehan says he’s concerned about the decline of an institution which is virtually synonymous with Ireland but is optimistic about the future for pubs that modernise. The vintners’ groups are fully behind the quality initiative, he points out, because they too recognise the need for change. “The sector realises it had to change its positioning,” he says. “Up to a few years ago, business was booming and they didn’t have the time – or the need – for something like this.”

Ger Counihan, proprietor of Bunkers Bar in Killorglin, Co Kerry, for the past 26 years, believes tourists love the Irish pub as much as they ever did. “This image of the friendly Irish is still true. We definitely still have it,” he says. “The reason tourists walk in my doors is to meet people.”

Lenehan says the drive for higher standards doesn’t mean that all pubs have to be the same. “We’re seeking minimum quality standards. After that, there are huge opportunities for publicans to personalise what they do. This doesn’t take away from the individuality of pubs.”

Food is one area of specialisation which Fáilte Ireland is keen to encourage. It talks about pubs “capturing a place on a plate” by sourcing ingredients from local suppliers and thereby delivering to visitors a flavour of the areas they are visiting.

There has been much talk of “gastro-pubs” but even Lenehan admits “food may not be for everyone”. The investment or space required may not suit some pubs, and the local trade may not be large enough to justify serving meals all year round.

Geraldine Lynch, who runs the Cuckoo’s Nest in Tallaght, says food has a contribution to make: “People think food is the saviour or panacea for all the problems of the pub trade. It works well for some but I’d say there are very few making money out of it.”

“If you’re hands-on and you know what you’re doing, you have a chance of making a go of it,” says Counihan, who serves meals in his pub seven days a week. “I live for my locals and the tourists are a bonus.”

It is a long-standing irony that while the outward appearance of pubs across the country varies hugely, the products they have traditionally stocked are uniform. Diageo controls about half the beer trade, and Heineken one-quarter, and for years it was hard for other suppliers to get a look in.

Donall O’Keefe, chief executive of the Licensed Vintners’ Association, admits that a lack of diversity in the products sold by pubs has been a weakness, but he says it is one that is being addressed now. “Most pubs would now stock a range of world beers and you’re seeing the emergence of craft beers in many areas. The future lies in further diversification and specialisation in the market.”

Craft brewing flourished for a time in the 1980s and 1990s but many of the pioneers didn’t survive. It’s now enjoying a revival and this time craft beers are enjoying more success in getting into pubs. Indeed, pubs like L Mulligan and Against the Grain in Dublin sell only speciality beers.

Yet the beer market has traditionally been a conservative one; everyone of a certain age remembers what happened to Guinness Light. “We’ve been down this road before, with the introduction of new beers. However, customers decided they didn’t want them, and they died,” cautions Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland.

Price remains a major issue for the public and complaints about “greedy publicans” are frequently heard. It’s a label Counihan refuses to accept: “We’re definitely not greedy and we can’t afford to be because our customers will walk if we are.”

The vintners’ groups argue that costs are driven up by over-regulation of the sector. There is no point in comparing prices in off-licences and pubs because the overall products, and the costs involved in providing them, are so different. Lynch’s rates bill is €65,000 a year.

The VFI admits that tourists sometimes comment that drink is expensive in Ireland but says publicans should point out that excise is higher here than in other countries.

Further contraction in the pub sector is inevitable, but a combination of specialisation, an increase in tourist numbers and restrictions on the off-licence trade offers grounds for hope for an eventual improvement in the fortunes of the Irish pub.

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Article Sources: Publicans learn to think outside the box

Breckenridge, Colorado is known for it’s snow-friendly winter months, but there is also quite a bit going on during the summer. Here is a rundown of Breckenridge, Colorado activities for July 2011.

From July 2-4, the 28th Annual Breckenridge July Art Festival will feature more than 80 artists from around the country. The festival is annually ranked as one of the top art shows in the United States. This high quality festival will offer a wide range of art mediums such as painting, metal, wood, glass, ceramics, sculpture, photography and jewelry just to name a few. Admission is free and the festival runs from 10am to 5pm. Call 970.547.9326 for more information.

The 4th of July weekend is filled with lively entertainment, fresh activities and dynamic family fun. Breck’s celebration includes the vibrant Fourth of July Parade on historic Main Street, July Arts Festival, 10K trail run, live music, kids’ activities and much more. The night ends with the National Repertory Orchestra performing a patriotic concert at the Riverwalk Center with a fun fireworks display. The Firecracker 50, one the most exciting USA Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships, kicks off Breck Bike Week.

During the second annual Breck Bike Week, July 5-11, visitors will be able to race or partake in all the non-competitive aspects of Breck Bike Week including high-end bike demos, led group rides, bike-in movie nights, trail building, lectures, clinics, bike fits and tunes, kids’ races, daily Tour de France viewing parties and more. Breckenridge was recently named a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. Call 970.453.2913 for more information.

Go dancing on the peaks on July 7th at the Beaver Run Resort Ballroom in Breckenridge, Colorado. The National Repertory Orchestra (NRO), led by music director Carl Topilow. invites folks to dance the night away. Tickets are $50 per person and $500 for a table of ten, To purchase tickets call the NRO office at 970-453-5825.

The Breckenridge Beer Festival, presented by KSMT radio, foams up on July 16th at Main Street Station from 1pm to 6pm. This beer sampling event features over 20 craft brewers, food and retail vendors, and live music throughout the day. This event draws a wide range of people from beer aficionados to families.

If you’re coming to Breckenridge, Colorado, you’ll need some comfortable lodging. Why take a chance with a hotel losing your reservation or sticking you next to a loud room? OHA features some great luxury Breckenridge, Colorado home rentals that are cheaper than a five star hotel, but include all the amenities: over-sized TVs, pool tables, pub tables, wet bars, king-size beds, gas stoves, hot tubs, games for the kids and much more.

OHA offers three Breckenridge, Colorado vacation rentals: Timber Creek, Mount Baldy and the Warrior’s Retreat.

You can book now for stays from June 1 to July 1 at these great prices:

6 bedroom home (Timber Creek Retreat) is $375 per night and 5 bedroom homes (Baldy Mountain Retreat and Warrior’s Retreat) are $300 per night.

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Hear what our guests had to say about the Baldy Mountain Retreat:

“Fabulous House. We had such a great time. The view is unbelievable, the amenities were wonderful, and the house is beautiful. We felt at home here. Thanks for an amazing couple of days. We will definitely be back.” The Levine Family

Article Sources: rental homes in breckenridge colorado l July 2011 Events in Breckenridge, Colorado

Have you ever dreamed of waking up in a comfortable bed and as you relish in the delectable meal served in your room or just leisurely spend time in your balcony overlooking the blue, tranquil ocean? A collection of Florida luxury resorts guarantee to turn your dream paradise into a reality you will never forget. From your room, to your dining place down to the white sandy beach, these luxury resorts have only the best to offer you.

One of the popular Florida luxury resorts is the five-star, five-diamond Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach. The resort makes sure that guests at all ages will enormously enjoy their stay. The 210 spacious and elegantly decorated rooms fronting the ocean all provide telephone, wireless internet connection and flat screen television. Non-smokers are assured of a fresh air in all rooms because of their smoke-free policy. The spa experience can be enjoyed with privacy for VIP guests. If you want to spend a lone time with your special someone, the private cabanas with the view of the ocean is perfect for the romantic chance you want.

As you go south in Naples, you are given a number of Florida luxury resorts to choose from. LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort aims to provide a modern yet easygoing lifestyle. Awarded in 2008 for Condé Nast Johansens Awards for Excellence, LaPlaya continued to present quality services and amenities to all their patrons. The rooms and suites are elegantly decorated with colors and distinct art works equipped with modern conveniences like flat screen television, refrigerator, coffee maker and wireless internet connection. Apart from water activities, you can also enjoy shopping, sightseeing or going on an eco adventure.

Naples Grande Beach Resort which is also located in Naples, Florida, is a 23 acres luxury resort with several sports and entertainment facilities catered for every age. There is a golf course and tennis courts for sports enthusiast and the resort is also perfectly located near the shopping area and mangrove sanctuary.

Florida Luxury Resorts – Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina

Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina is another Florida luxury resorts choice for people with the ability to splurge for a dream vacation. Located in the Intracoastal Waterway of Fort Lauderdale, Hilton Fort is a breath of fresh air from the usual traditional Florida luxury resorts. Instead of the wide ocean view, you are given the opportunity to bask in the modern and sleek design of the place. Have fun while you take your yacht along domestic shores or spend time scuba diving, snorkeling and jet skiing. You can also just simply take a plunge into the heated outdoor swimming pool. China Grill, the dining place in Hilton Fort, served Asian-inspired cuisine. It can accommodate up to 500 guests that makes this place a perfect place to host weddings and other social events. The rooms are adorned with deluxe white linens that seem to reflect the white yachts just outside your window.

No matter how much it might cost, some people are willing to spend for the resort that can offer the paradise that seems to only lurk in their dreams.

Article Sources: Florida Luxury Resorts

Rancho Palos Verdes leaders could decide Tuesday whether to let dogs run free on a 5-acre stretch of the city’s coastline.

City officials say they expect a packed house for the 7 p.m. meeting, during which the staff will present a 300-page report detailing the pros and cons of allowing an off-leash or on-leash dog beach. The report includes volumes of emails and community feedback collected over the past several months.

“While the numbers are generally running in favor of the dog beach, the opposition is pretty forceful in making their arguments in why this should not be a dog beach,” Deputy City Manager Carolynn Petru said.

Supporters say dog owners and their pets get much-needed exercise and camaraderie from the experience. Critics raise issues of pollution, feces and aggressive dogs.

Rancho Palos Verdes Beach – formerly a privately owned stretch that was given to the city about a year ago – lies below the Trump National Golf Club on Ocean Trails Drive.

Somewhat secluded, the beach is accessible only by a steep, cliffside trail. Dog owners have been taking their canines there for off-leash romps along the sand and in the water for the past few years.

City law dating back to 1978, however, prohibits bringing any animal – on leash or off leash – onto beach property, Petru said.

So when the city took possession of the beach, the council asked staff to study the possibility of officially allowing it to be a dog space.

Community feedback came in the form of 268 emails or telephone calls, with 72 percent in support of a dog beach and 28 percent opposed.

Broken down to include Rancho Palos Verdes residents only, the percentages were 63 percent in favor and 37 percent opposed.

Among the opponents is the Portuguese Bend Club Homeowners Association, which cited health and safety concerns.

“PBC has already received many reports of people being chased, frightened and even attacked by loose dogs,” wrote President Michael A. Barth. “We believe that there is a tension between the use of the beach by the off-leash dogs and the humans. Whatever the reason the animal acts in the fashion it does, the result is the same, fear and possible injury to the passer-by. That is not fair.”

Other concerns expressed included traffic, pollution and trespassing.

Rancho Palos Verdes resident Pat Zelt wrote to the council saying the presence of dogs is harmful to some native species.

“I do not understand why the city of Rancho Palos Verdes would want to open one of the few natural occurring sandy beaches in all of Rancho Palos Verdes to an unregulated dog beach,” she wrote.

City residents John and Janine Colich, however, urged the city to allow dogs at the beach.

“We have accessed that beach numerous times since the golf course opened, both with and without a dog, and have never had a negative experience,” they said.

And this from Jeff Sybilrud: “We’re delighted at the thought of dogs on our public beach and we want the beach to remain dog friendly.”

While the beach is used by some surfers, “It’s not a swimming beach,” Petru said. “There are a lot of underwater rocks and reefs and a lot of seaweed or kelp.”

There are about 60 dog beaches in California, with 43 of them requiring that dogs be leashed and 17 allowing dogs to be off leash.

The only two in Los Angeles County are Leo Carillo to the north – an on-leash dog beach – and Rosie’s Dog Beach in Long Beach, which allows canines to be off leash.

If council members agree to pursue a dog beach, a yearlong pilot program would be set up to run roughly from October 2012 to October 2013.

Meanwhile, Petru said the city continues to look for a site to establish a fenced-in, off-leash dog park.

Even if the dog beach is approved, Petru said, it poses access challenges that a dog park would not.

Tuesday’s meeting could bring some closure to at least one of the proposals.

“It’s difficult when you talk about people’s pets, it’s almost the same as when you talk about people’s children,” Petru said. “It’s very emotional and they’re very invested in the area. But folks on the other end of it are concerned about the ambiance and quality of the coastline.”

Follow Donna Littlejohn on Twitter at twitter.com/donnalittlejohn

Article Sources: Rancho Palos Verdes to vote Tuesday on possible dog beach

Professional and trade conventions actually are new urbanist events. People arrive from out of town, often sans car, and spend several days walking around the convention site and the host city while taking care of business and enjoying themselves.

So when we at CP&DR started talking about the best convention cities in California, we ended up talking about some of California’s best urban areas. It turns out that a good convention city has all the same attributes as a good urban place.

A good convention city has a wide variety of restaurants, coffee houses and watering holes, decent entertainment options, parks or multi-use paths for early-morning or late-afternoon exercise, and maybe some specialty shopping — all within close vicinity of the convention site. Remember, you’re at a conference. Considering all the time spent sitting around listening to presentations, and all the drinking and munching you’ll do at receptions, you NEED to walk around.

Of course, a convention city also should have good hotels, comfortable meeting facilities, wireless access everywhere, a decent airport, and some public transit.

Resorts are a second option for a convention. The resort convention often encourages even more walking than the downtown convention, but in a different setting. It’s more like walking in a shopping mall or hospital or, if you’re lucky, a college campus. While there, you think about how long it will take you to walk somewhere — not the place that you’re in.

We love cities, so it’s not surprising that we favor the downtown convention format. We also should note that we who live and work in California are darned lucky to have so many great meeting places. Many states have only a handful of locations that could handle, say, 500 to 1,000 people for three days. California has dozens of such places, which makes it difficult to choose the best. But we did.

The best cities in California for a convention:

1. Monterey. Is there anybody who doesn’t want to spend a few days in Monterey on the company’s dime? Monterey Conference Center isn’t built for those 20,000-person mega-events, but it’s an ideal size for most conventions, and it’s perfectly located between downtown and Cannery Row. Top-notch hotels, restaurants and comfortable lounges are everywhere. The fabulous Monterey Bay Aquarium and Fisherman’s Wharf are within comfortable walking distance along a bayfront multi-use trail. Downtown can feel a touch upscale touristy, but it’s easy enough to find eateries and shops catering to modest budgets. If you’re able to sneak off for the afternoon, the Monterey Peninsula offers a world-class selection of public golf courses.

2. San Diego. San Diego is sort of like a much bigger version of Monterey, and with more reliably good weather. This convention center can handle the mega-event, but there are hotels with fine meeting facilities for smaller gatherings. The downtown San Diego walking environment is extraordinary. The thriving restaurants and nightclubs of the Gaslamp District are only a few blocks away from the convention center, as is the San Diego Padres’ baseball stadium, and you can always stroll along the waterfront. The San Diego Trolley makes excursions to other parts of town easy. If the family comes along, they may reach the famous San Diego Zoo and other attractions of Balboa Park with a short cab ride.

3. Palm Springs. What’s better than finally escaping from 8 hours of brain-numbing PowerPoint presentations in an air conditioned hall? Walking out the sliding glass doors into a pleasantly warm evening and marveling at the San Jacinto Peak escarpment towering over town. Palm Springs’ convention hotels are conveniently located in an old-fashioned, low-rise downtown that has a weird, yet enjoyable, mix of businesses. The place manages to be both kitschy and ultra-modern at the same time. Plus, the Spa Resort Casino offers a touch of Vegas right in the middle of everything.

The second tier:

San Francisco. The City would rate higher if Moscone Center were in a better location. Unfortunately, the SoMa neighborhood right around the big convention house is pretty gritty. Union Square and the theater district are nearby, but other great attractions — such as the most vibrant Chinatown in the U.S., the amazing dining in North Beach and the dazzling waterfront along the Embarcadero — require a short cab ride. Public transit can be a little confusing to visitors. Still, if you don’t enjoy a convention in San Francisco, then you don’t enjoy cities.

Los Angeles. Here, the location problem is even worse. Unlike San Francisco, where there are plenty of good hotels close to the convention center, in L.A. most big hotels are a mile or more from the massive convention center. Who wants to take a shuttle from their hotel to the convention? That said, there are finally some new hotels and restaurants within striking distance of the convention center. If you’re lucky enough to attend a convention at one of the established downtown hotels, you’ll be close to great museums and entertainment venues around the Civic Center. And, believe it or not, public transit is pretty convenient if you want to hit Olvera Street, or even Hollywood or Pasadena.

San Jose. This may be the only true surprise on our list. There are good hotels fairly near the convention center and the redeveloped downtown is enjoyable if still a work-in-progress. The San Jose State University campus brings variety and vitality to area. Light-rail and a free shuttle make getting around easy, but most things are within a 15-minute walk.

Very popular, but …

Anaheim. OK, if you’re bringing the kids, then Anaheim might be convention nirvana. But if you’re looking for an urban experience, nearby Long Beach or even Santa Ana would be a better bet. Disneyland’s massive surface parking lots prevent good urbanism. The Anaheim Convention Center is disconnected from everything. If you want to eat or drink somewhere other than your hotel or Disneyland, your choice is to find a ride or walk on narrow sidewalks adjacent to high-speed boulevards to, well, a different hotel or chain restaurant. That said, there has been a significant hotel upgrade during recent years, and Downtown Disney is OK for what it is. Check back in 20 years. Things might be great by then.

For a change of pace …

Yosemite Valley. The facilities are spread out, yet everything you could want is here — in one of the world’s most spectacular settings. You may take a contemplative walk from Curry Village to Yosemite Lodge to the Ahwahnee Hotel, or you may ride the free shuttle. The boss isn’t going to spring for a room in the Ahwahnee, but you may still stop in for a drink by the fireplace. And what could be better than waking up in a tent cabin at Curry Village, grabbing a steaming cup of coffee on the patio, and then deciding whether the day might be better spent on the trail to Upper Yosemite Falls?

— The CP&DR Staff

Article Sources: Best Downtowns: Convention Cities

The state of the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market is one of the biggest wild cards affecting the pace of U.S. hotel investment in 2012, according to Hotel Investment Outlook 2012, a research report from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.

Long considered the most liquid hotel investment market in the world, the U.S. went into a two-year slump in 2009 and 2010 before making a comeback in 2011 with approximately $15.2 billion in transactions. “CMBS loans provide much needed liquidity to borrowers as local and regional lenders are still in the process of repairing their balance sheets, leaving limited capacity, large money center banks and life companies to fund the majority of on-balance sheet loans,” noted Bill Grice, Senior Vice President of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. The firm forecasts that 2012 deal volume will continue at last year’s pace with approximately $15 billion in total transactions, as institutional and foreign investors return to the market while REITs pull back. The unknown factor that could affect the pace of acquisitions is the strength of the CMBS market.

CMBS loans represent about one third of outstanding U.S. hotel debt. With $30 billion in CMBS loans reaching maturity in 2012-many of them on properties valued below their current loan amount-it is likely that many loans will be extended for three or more years, providing additional time for property values to rebound and loans to further delever. In the meantime, the large overhang of loan maturities marks a period of highly attractive investment opportunities for investors who believe that market fundamentals will continue to rebound.

“Given that banks continue to push out maturities to 2015-2017, all eyes will be on how the pricing and appetite for floating-rate CMBS evolves in 2012,” said Mathew Comfort, Executive Vice President of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. “Swaps and spreads will continue to be volatile during 2012 and investors need to carefully time when to lock in an interest rate.”

The availability of equity capital for high-quality hotel transactions is expected to remain high with the re-emergence of opportunity funds, value-added funds and core-plus funds, which typically allocate 15 to 20 percent of their equity to hotel real estate, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels reported. To mitigate any negative impact of individual asset performance, loan originations may be capped at $100 million, with larger deals requiring a consortium of lenders to spread out the downside risk.

“The overhanging loan maturities create tremendous opportunities for investors seeking to obtain loan-to-own note sales, by reducing costs on the lending side and thus creating real value for both parties,” said Jeffrey Davis, Managing Director of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. “Recently we’ve seen an increase in debt sales by lending institutions, particularly note sales, and this trend will continue in 2012 as lenders become increasingly motivated to get paper off their balance sheets.”

Debt markets provide strong activity for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ financing experts who closed more than $1.1 billion in debt and equity financings, note sales and advisory transactions in 2011. A total of 22 loans encompassing more than 4,000 rooms in assets located throughout California, Florida, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Virginia were secured through various lenders.

Davis, Comfort and Grice, along with Vice President Mike Huth, led the Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels team on the following transactions:

* A $145 million financing of the W Hotel located in Washington D.C. on behalf of Istithmar World PJSC. * A $59 million financing of the Chase Park Plaza located in St. Louis, on behalf of Behringer Harvard. * A $51.5 million financing or the SLS Hotel South Beach located in Miami, on behalf of SBE and CIM Group. * A $42 million refinancing of the Magnolia Hotel Houston located in Houston, Texas on behalf of Stout Street Hospitality. * A $17 million refinancing of the DoubleTree by Hilton located in Cleveland, Ohio on behalf of The Hotel Group. * A $12.2 million refinancing of the Sheraton Louisville Riverside located in Jeffersonville, Indiana on behalf of MHI Hospitality.

“As we enter 2012, all of the signs point in the direction of a strong recovery for the lending market,” said Comfort. “The hotel sector is moving in the right direction with bank lending driving activity and CMBS lending backing high-quality product with strong sponsorship.”

About Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, the first and leading global hotel investment services firm, is uniquely positioned to provide the depth and breadth of advice required by hotel investor and operator clients, through a robust and integrated local network. In 2010, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels provided sale, purchase and financing advice on $4.1 billion worth of transactions globally. In addition, advisory and valuation services were provided on over 1,000 assignments. The global team comprises over 225 hotel specialists, operating from 39 offices in 20 countries. The firm’s advice is supported by a dedicated global research team, which produced 70 publications in 2010 in addition to client research. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ services span the hospitality spectrum; from luxury single assets and large portfolios to select service and budget hotels, resorts and pubs. Services include investment sales, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, valuation and appraisal, asset management, strategic planning, operator selection, management contract negotiation, consulting, industry research and project development services. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ clients have access to the resources of its parent company, Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL). joneslanglasallehotels.com

jones lang lasalle, attractive investment opportunities, loan maturities, money center banks, commercial mortgage backed securities, mortgage backed securities, hotel investment, market fundamentals, investment outlook, foreign investors, wild cards, cmbs loans, limiPaige Steers Phone: +1 312 228 2797Email: comJones Lang LaSalle Hotels joneslanglasallehotels.com22 Hanover SquareLondon , W1A 2BNUnited KingdomPhone: +44 20 7493 6040Fax: +44 20 7399 5694All Articles from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels

Article Sources: Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels report predicts that $30 billion in CMBS hotel loans maturing in 2012 may be extended, creating an opportunity-rich investment environment

A 31-year-old man was fatally shot by Powell police on Thursday morning, ending a four-hour standoff in which the man reportedly claimed to have hostages and fired gunshots from a room at the Park Motel.

Nicholas Alan Ungar, a Chicago-area native who’s lived in Powell off-and-on for the past several years, was shot by an officer around 7:25 a.m. The shot from police came after Ungar exchanged fire with officers, said Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt.

Ungar — whose identity was officially released Monday — was pronounced dead at Powell Valley Hospital at 8:07 a.m., said Park County Coroner Tim Power.

No one else, including a young woman who was in the East Second Street motel room with Ungar, was injured in the incident, Eckerdt said. The woman later told police that Ungar had been smoking methamphetamine prior to the standoff, and a “bindle” of what was suspected to be meth was found in the motel room, according to a search warrant returned by law enforcement.

As a part of the procedure in any shooting involving a police officer, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation is conducting a review of the incident that will be submitted to the Park County Attorney’s Office for review.

Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric said he hopes the report would be complete in four to six weeks, though his primary concern is that it be thorough.

Ungar showed up at the Park Motel around 2 a.m. Thursday, screaming and “freaking out” about some kind of scuffle with his father earlier in the night, said Bill Sales, a manager of the Park Motel.

Sales said Ungar and his father had problems, and sometimes the junior Ungar would spend the night at the motel.

Ungar left the office soon after entering, and Sales later heard what apparently were two gunshots, followed by another two shots about a half-hour later; the woman who was with Ungar later told police that he had stepped out of a room and fired two shots into the air, according to an affidavit from local DCI Special Agent Juliet Vibe used to later search the room.

A man staying in the room next door to where Ungar and the woman were holed up called 911 at 3:12 a.m. to report gunfire.

From what Ungar said at the motel office before shots were heard, Sales got the impression that Ungar was afraid police were looking for him. Ungar told police he’d cut his father’s face in self-defense, according to Vibe’s affidavit.

Police, unaware of the earlier incident with Ungar’s father, spoke with Ungar over a phone after they arrived at the motel.

“The subject self-reported that he had hostages in with him and was armed,” said Eckerdt. The Park County Sheriff’s Office was summoned for assistance, as was the Cody Police Department’s tactical team; DCI agents also were on scene.

Chief Eckerdt said police also spoke with another individual in the room with Ungar. According to Chris Swartwood, who described himself as Ungar’s best friend, the other individual was a young woman Ungar “hung out with a lot”; the woman — at Ungar’s direction, she said — told police there were three other female hostages, says Vibe’s affidavit.

Initially, Ungar told police that there were two hostages in the room, Eckerdt said.

After Ungar was shot and the incident over, it was discovered that the woman was the only other individual in the room. It was not clear from initial reports whether she was being held against her will or whether Ungar only told police she was a hostage.

“He f—ing kept telling them … he didn’t want to hurt nobody, he wasn’t going to hurt nobody. He kept saying he just wanted his dad brought down there,” said Swartwood. He said he offered to speak with Ungar and calm him down, but police wouldn’t let him; the woman told Vibe that Ungar had been pacing back and forth and yelling during the standoff.

Vibe’s affidavit says Ungar told police he “would release the hostages in exchange for his father.”

Eckerdt said on-scene officers reported hearing gunfire at 4:33 a.m., 4:43 a.m., 6:56 a.m. and then at 7:24 a.m. — a minute before Ungar was shot by police.

Police have not publicly released a detailed statement about what exactly happened, pending the ongoing investigation.

The woman in Ungar’s room told agent Vibe that she and Ungar were peeking out the window when he told her to get down, according to the agent’s affidavit.

“(Nick Ungar) then fired a shot out the open window, through the screen,” wrote Vibe. “Approximately five seconds later, (the woman) heard another shot, then felt blood on her back.”

Swartwood said he never saw Ungar fire and accused police of lying.

“I seen the … motel door, open to the room. Soon as I did, I seen the police fire,” he said.

Swartwood was at that point standing across the street near Lynn’s Quick Stop and could not see directly into the room.

Another guest at the motel, Necia Kacmar, was staying in a room directly opposite the one where Ungar was barricaded. Theoretically, Kacmar would have been able to see directly into Ungar’s room from her window, but wasn’t about to put herself in danger.

“I was too scared to go near the window,” she said. “I was like, ‘we’re staying away from the window.’”

Other than the woman in the room with Ungar, only police officers would have been in position to see whatever was happening in the room at the back of the motel.

“They only know the answer to that one,” said Sales, who police had moved to a room at the neighboring Americas Best Value Inn at the time of the shooting.

Ungar apparently used a Smith and Wesson .357 caliber Magnum during the incident, according to a receipt for items seized from Ungar’s room. Other ammunition and suspected marijuana also was seized, the receipt says.

Eckerdt said the man reportedly told police he also had an SKS assault rifle and a 9 mm handgun, but it appeared that claim — like the claim about having multiple hostages — was not true.

It also appeared that a shot had been fired from Ungar’s room through the wall into a neighboring room, says Vibe’s affidavit.

“I’m not condoning everything he (Ungar) did, don’t get me wrong,” said Swartwood, who described himself Thursday as having “my share of run-ins” with police. “I’m not saying that everything he did or the way he tried to express himself was the most appropriate way to go about it. I’m saying that it’s my friend and that he was trying to vent. If the motherf—er was just out to cause problems and kill, he would not have spent two hours on the phone with police.”

He said police should have taken more steps to resolve the situation with non-lethal force.

“What’s the sense in having non-lethal force or other options? There’s no need to shoot him in the head,” Swartwood said. He also said police never told Ungar to drop his weapon or used the bull horn they had on hand.

Vibe’s affidavit says she and Powell Police Officer Matt McCaslin were about to try negotiating with Ungar using the bullhorn when a gunshot and a scream were heard.

Recollections of when shots were heard differed between people the Tribune talked to. Swartwood and Sales, who were at the motel, each separately said they didn’t hear any shots between police’s arrival on scene and the final shots; Casey Weber, a bystander who watched the incident from the Maverik parking lot, said he heard a shot around 4 a.m.; a neighborhood resident said she thought she heard a shot around 6:30 a.m.

Kacmar heard what apparently were gunshots around 2 a.m.

“I thought it was a truck backfiring, and I really didn’t pay much attention to it,” Kacmar said, and she went back to sleep. She didn’t wake up to any other sounds.

“Pretty much the only thing that wakes me up is a baby crying,” she said, adding that the early shots were pretty quiet.

It was around 6 a.m. that police had Sales, Swartwood, and several others evacuate the Park Motel. An officer knocked on Kacmar’s door and said she needed to leave. However, when Kacmar told the officer she had her three young daughters in the room, he said he would find out what needed to be done.

Kacmar didn’t hear from police again until around 8:30 a.m., about an hour after the incident was over and after her friends reminded police she was there, she said.

“I just never heard back from them,” Kacmar said.

Eckerdt said police made a decision to leave the woman and her children in the motel room during the standoff.

“It was safer to have her and her kids in place behind that cinder block wall than trying to move her and her three kids to safety,” he said.

In between the knock from police and the end of the incident, Kacmar tried to keep things as normal as possible for the kids — fixing them breakfast and putting on “Rio,” their favorite movie.

While she was pretty nervous, wondering if she “was ever going to get out of there,” Kacmar’s 4-year-old and 2-year-old twins seemed to handle it OK.

“They knew something was going on, but they weren’t too upset,” she said.

Circuit Court records show that Ungar had some contact with local law enforcement over the past several years, mostly for traffic violations. He also was cited for breach of peace in late December.

In that Dec. 23 incident, Ungar reportedly became loud and profane after an employee at Powell’s First Bank of Wyoming declined to cash one of his checks. He was escorted out of the bank, but later returned with a friend and became upset again. Ungar was reported to have taken ornaments off a lobby Christmas tree and thrown them, scaring employees.

Ungar pleaded guilty to breach of peace on Jan. 17 and was given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and six months of unsupervised probation during which he could not go to the bank, and he was ordered to pay $390 in court fines and fees.

Court records show Ungar had a Illinois driver’s license and listed different Powell and Cody addresses in December and January.

Swartwood said people didn’t understand Ungar because he was from the city; Swartwood described Ungar as generous and loyal.

“If he said he was your friend, right or wrong, he was your friend,” Swartwood said. He said Ungar had a young daughter and he was in Powell to be with his terminally ill father.

It’s the second fatal shooting by police in Park County in four months. A Cody police officer shot 34-year-old Jared Christen on Oct. 11 after the heavily intoxicated man came out of his basement firing rounds in the direction of officers. That incident began as a domestic dispute and escalated to Christen firing 13 rounds from a rifle, including several bullets that narrowly missed officers. Two of the man’s children had been in the basement with him.

After reviewing the DCI report into that incident, County Attorney Skoric found the use of deadly force was “clearly and legally justified.”

The last Powell shooting involving an officer took place in May 2007 when a Powell police officer shot a man who, after firing a gun in his trailer, tried to flee. That shooting, which the man recovered from, was deemed by Skoric to be justified as well.

DCI finished its on-scene investigation and turned the Park Motel back over to its managers around 10 p.m. Thursday; in the late afternoon, Sales said it was frustrating to have the entire motel shut down — despite the incident taking place in one room — and his guests displaced with nowhere to go. He also was frustrated that the motel will have to clean up the damage from the incident — likely totaling thousands of dollars.

Kacmar, the guest, said the managers at the Park Motel had been very nice to her and her children, and she plans to return there while she waits for an apartment to be ready.

“I’m still staying there,” she said Sunday night. “I’m just here (at a friend’s house) to let everything calm down.”

The officer who fired the shot has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation is pending. That is standard procedure in such incidents.

Article Sources: Man fatally shot by police after standoff

To sum it up, some hours of homework may help save you lots of dollars on hotel stays. This will make your holiday experience much better and you will definitely cherish lovely memories. Remember to cross check the package deal before buying it.

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Article Sources: Tropenbos Ghana » Blog Archive » Techniques For Enjoying Luxurious Vacations At Modest Prices

Special to the Daily News

Updated: 6:31 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, 2012

Posted: 6:16 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, 2012

There are ways to show your pets you love them on Valentine’s Day and every day while supporting our town businesses at the same time. Here are some places you can take them to, today or any day, to show you love your furry family.

Take your dog, or cat to lunch — Several local restaurants allow dogs in the outside areas, especially those with terraces on Royal Poinciana Way, as well as some of the hotels. And don’t forget the relocated Trevini and the outdoor Pizza al Fresco. (They now serve liquor, but you don’t want to give your dog any of that.) So go with your four-legged sweethearts as well as your two-legged one for lunch.

Groom your pets — Bring your pets to Royal Pet Grooming at 340 Royal Poinciana Way where they’ll come out looking like they could win Best in Show. Well, at least at the Worth Avenue Pet Parade if not Westminster. Call 833-3131.

Gifts from local pet stores — Visit Pucci & Catana Luxury Pet Boutique at 21 Via Mizner, near Renato’s. Let your dogs or cats put their best paws forward by wearing something from P & C’s lovely line of luxury pet gifts — everything from clothing to collars to jewelry.

Take them to a spa — Not your spa, but a pet spa, Onblonde Pet Spa at 242 S. County Road offers them such exotic fare as a blueberry facial, or a milk thistle paw scrub. Or your pets can be groomed, trained, walked and boarded there, probably not all at the same time.

Bone appetite — Fortunately, Woof Gang Bakery, at 296 S. County Road, is a lot closer than a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, and your pets will probably prefer the food at this one anyway. They’re sure to love the canine and feline goodies such as the Pumpkin Pie Fire Hydrants and the Nutty Squirrels. As for you, the nearest Wolfgang Puck restaurant appears to be in Orlando.

Remember the homeless — While you’re partying or celebrating, pets in shelters have no reason to do either. A wonderful Valentine’s Day (or any day) gift is to volunteer to walk them. Or make a donation. Or better still, take one home permanently.

There’s also a new and great way to help pets in shelters. Sheila and Jack Fisher of Palm Beach have a veterinarian daughter who runs a nonprofit organization that provides calming music to animals in shelters. Music has been found to help pets cope with the stress of being there instead of a home.

Dr. Pamela Fisher doesn’t charge for each player (they’re $50 each). Some local shelters are now using them, and donations will put even more in. to learn more, visit rescueanimalMp3.org.

Article Sources: Show your pets some love at pet-friendly businesses this Valentine’s Day