theamericanbear:

Freedom of the press:

Occupy Wall Street is in the middle of one of its day-long marches in New York Tuesday, protesting the National Defense Authorization Act, but for those following along on the Global Revolution livestream, the real action is happening in the broadcast studio itself. That’s because police have apparently just raided the Brooklyn studio of Globalrevolution.tv and taken some of the project’s key volunteers into custody.

The raid Tuesday follows a notice to vacate that police delivered to the Bushwick studio on Monday night. Victoria Sobel, a Global Revolution volunteer, said Vlad Teichberg and a guy named Spike, both of whom maintain the live feed aggregator, had been taken into custody by police, along with four or five others.

If you were following along earlier today, you may have been startled at about 1:45 p.m. to see the live feed cut away from the street-level action and to the face of Vlad Teichberg, one of the main organizers of Global Revolution. The new shot showed a large, graffittied space where Teichberg and a couple of colleagues were confronting a man they identified as the landlord, who had apparently broken in their door. They put the camera on him, he threatened to call the police, they said he had no right to come into the space by force, and he eventually left. 

But Sobel said that was just the start of the day’s conflict. Shortly after the confrontation, the police arrived. “Within the past hour, the police came in and removed people that were inside the studio,” she said. “I believe the police just began knocking on the door and saying they would kick the door down and saying they would arrest people on the spot.” The Global Revolution studio is now locked, Sobel said. The live feed has finished its Hawaiian broadcast and is playing a pre-recorded video. “The message is that even if they take the space, the [broadcast] will continue to be maintained,” Sobel said. But right now, it seems to be out of commission.

Police and buildings department officials had served the Buswhick, Brooklyn space with notices to vacate on Monday night, declaring it ”imminently perilous to life.”

Nice made up excuse.

I’ve posted about this on both facebook and reddit.

It’s a shit excuse. It’s a shit situation. It’s cherry-picking violations at its worst.

With that said, most of the converted industrial spaces in the area of 13 Thames are some of the worst. They’re poorly maintained. Many have unsanctioned construction/modifications to the units. Some have issues with flooding (and the black mold that comes with it). Others have issues with obstructed / insufficient sprinkler systems. Keep in mind, most of these buildings were illegally converted into loft apartments and/or live/work spaces. They were originally light industry and manufacturing, and were converted in the late 90’s / early 00’s. Many have tens of building violations. Several have stop work orders. The landlords are basically one half step above slumlords.

Bottom line: if you’re running an organization like GR, that supports an organization like OWS, that directly opposes the status quo that NYC’s billionaire mayor relies on … make sure your ducks are in order. Leave no stone unturned. Hire your own inspector to check things out before you sign a lease. And make sure that lease is airtight. 

For all I know, there was a violation in GR’s unit. There’s probably a violation in every single unit at 13 Thames.

It’s shit that they singled out GR, but some of the blame falls to every level here: GR who leased a spot in a dodgy building; The landlord of 13 Thames; the building inspectors who obviously missed something in their previous inspection; the retaliatory and punitive behavior of the NYC governance. Let’s not dogpile on the Dept of Buildings, here.