UPDATE: Groups Disrupt Mayor Bloomberg's Speech to CEO's Demanding He Speak with the City's Poor

Submitted by Todd Wolfson on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 9:26am

UPDATE: The remaining Right to the City Eight released. More at the bottom after the jump.

On Tuesday at least 100 people from the Right to the City NY Alliance barged into the main ballroom at the Grand Hyatt New York hotel in Midtown, holding signs that read, Mayor Bloomberg, Talk to All New Yorkers,and chanting, This is what democracy looks like.The best write-up of the protest comes from Feministe

Folks from Right to the City marched into the Hyatt as Mayor Bloomberg was taking part in a conference on the future of NY with COE's of major corporations. Members of the Right to the City Coalition explained:
"The policy recommendations that come out of today' The Future of NYconference could have a serious impact on the lives of people most impacted by the current economic crisis, such as homeless and low-income New Yorkers. Right to the City-NY is here to remind Mayor Bloomberg that WE are the future of New York, and have the right to be involved in the decision-making process that affects our lives and communities. RTTC-NY demands that Mayor Bloomberg recognize the right of low-income people to participate in any discussion about strengtheningthe city' economic future."
Picture the Homeless and Mothers on the Move amongst others, are a part of this coalition and they were arrested yesterday

Below is an email from the Picture the Homeless listserve making people aware of the situation in NYC. There is also a Youtube video

Dear Friends and Members!!

This afternoon, members of the Right to the City NY Alliance (which includes
Picture the Homeless) stormed the boardroom where the Mayor was meeting with
the CEO's of several major companies.

A number of folks were detained, including a PTH member!

Please call the Midtown South Precinct and tell them to LET OUR PEOPLE GO!
More specifically - ask that the folks arrested during the mayor protest at
the Grand Hyatt be issued Desk Appearance Tickets and released.

212-239-9811: ask to speak to Officer Espinoza

The precinct is in Council Member Christine Quinn's district, so it would
also help if you can call her office at 212-564-7757 and ask them to request
the release of the protester.

Things are heating up in NYC! Bloomberg was visibly annoyed by our presence,
and the action is already getting some solid press coverage.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/boisterous-protest-interrup...

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/politics&id=6638963

UPDATE: From the Picture the Homeless email list. 2.5.09
This evening, the last of the Right to the City Eight were released from Central Booking, after spending more than 24 hours locked up.

Many thanks to all of you who turned out for this morning's press conference, or made calls to the police or the Mayor's office, or spread the word to friends and allies. The police response shows that the Mayor is vulnerable and nervous, and we need to keep the pressure up. And the PRESS response shows that people are paying attention. So stay tuned as we turn up the heat.

Here's a blog posting that contains an audio statement made by one of our members, who called us from the bullpen at Central Booking: http://picturethehomeless.org/blog/node/67

Here's a video clip of the action itself:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DdMxWmSWo1E

And here's a sampling of the 40+ news articles that covered the action:

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/politics&id=6638963

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02032009/news/regionalnews/protestors_interr...

http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/article/Protest_disrupts_mayor/14986.html

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/02/03/disrupting-bloomberg/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123369659464744853.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/122827

http://www.wpix.com/landing/?Bloomberg-Speech-Marred-By-Protestors=1&blo...

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/125227

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/boisterous-protest-interrup...

http://www.examiner.com/x-1527-NY-Government-Examiner~y2009m2d3-Bloomber...