Excellent coverage and response Shannon.  Occupy USA, we are the 99%.

the downtown crime rate was 20 percent lower as compared to the 46 days before Occupy Tucson established its encampments.

The Tucson Sentinel names Bret Linden the Sexiest Man Alive for 2011.

See, anyone can just pull something outta their ass and say anything to try to make a point. I want to see proof, a link to something on TPD’s website or something similar backing this statement up. I honestly don’t believe it. To me, it sounds as if the cases of attempted child molestation downtown went up by a significant margin…

With repeated stories of an average of something like 10 people cited every evening, when there weren’t 10 people cited before the flea party gathering, how in the world could there be a drop in crime? Yes, curfew violation does count as crime. So does vagrancy, public drunkenness, and child molestation.

And, in the unlikely event that this alleged 20% decrease is accurate, that could be anything. How about citing in what types of crimes? Maybe some went down while others went up? Maybe the crime rate went down because the flea party was a repellent to anyone else going downtown…

If you search on “Occupy Tucson”, amongst the videos you’ll find the one at the link below…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_UcRaLUX3U

The person in that video look familiar to you? It should…it’s YOU Shannon Cain. Right toward the beginning of the video, you say the following…

“We are increasingly outnumbered by people who are there for purposes of survival and not for activism.”

So, by your own admission, the flea party camp evolved into a camp where the homeless and addicts hang out (though I admit I can’t tell the difference between the two). Yet, you want the city to allow that idiocy to continue. Are you serious?

With each passing day and each passing story, the flea party’s credibility is “progressively” (pun intended) decreasing.

Before the eviction, Shannon Cain was one of the “Occupiers” who went home every night, took a hot bath, then sat sipping hot cocoa while she thought of brilliant prose to write about her comrades freezing their asses off in the park.
She is very, very full of herself.

Roy Warden

Typical liberal thinking…whenever a liberal is called out, the automatic knee-jerk response is one of five things…“hateful”, “uncivil”, “vitriolic” (that’s along Sheriff Dumbass…I mean Dupnik), “racist”, or, the one you chose…“angry”. Get a dictionary and read it…anger and calling someone out on inaccuracies have nothing to do with each other.

But, that said, I looked at the site you referenced…

I looked up that site, and punched in the dates for the flea party infestation. I’m seeing no references to curfew violations, attempted molestation (you Good Samaritans did inform the police, right?), drunkeness in public, disturbing the peace, or anything similar.

Well, we all know that all of those things were party of the flea party. If they’re not referenced there, then I seriously question the accuracy of the data provided.

Tell ya what…instead of going through a middleman web site, how about asking TPD directly? Villasenor has been FAR more cooperative and patient with the flea party then I would have been in his place. I’m sure he would be happy to provide you with the statistical data you request. And, if he provides data that the flea party infestation resulted in a 20% OVERALL drop in crime (I mean felonies AND misdemeanors), then I will come back here and apologize. However, I don’t think it’s going to come to that, is it Shannon?

Haha Bret you are so funny, thinking you accomplish something here…. oh well, good entertainment at least!

@Shannon Cain

Yup…that’s exactly how I thought you would react.

I am hopeful that all others who haven’t drank the flea party kool-aid will also see this piece for exactly what it’s worth…not much.

Shannon Cain is a fiction writer

Yup. That’s about right. This piece contains mostly fiction. Good work. I will say this…even though it was largely fictional, it was entertaining…much like the TV show Pawn Stars.

scar typed:

Yeah i have been asking for an ignore feature but the staff has yet to respond.

Mouse over a user’s avatar in a comment, and you’ll see a link to add that person to your ignore list, scar. That feature’s been there since we launched.