City of Los Angeles May Be a Strong OWS Ally

In fact, on October 12, the City Council of Los Angeles endorsed the occupation:

After nearly three hours of public comment dominated by Occupy Los Angeles demonstrators, the City Council voted Wednesday to support the movement calling attention to what activists say is a growing gap between the nation's rich and poor.
The resolution sponsored by Councilmen Richard Alarcon and Bill Rosendahl supports the "peaceful and vibrant exercise in First Amendment Rights carried out by 'Occupy Los Angeles.'"

Visiting the Los Angeles tent city of protest a little over a week ago, BuzzFlash at Truthout couldn't see even one police officer in sight - literally. It was so peaceful that, given the corporate mass media's attention to conflict, the Los Angeles occupation is getting little national attention.
Yes, the Los Angeles City Hall is located in a relatively deserted part of what is a relatively small downtown for the second-largest city in the US. Yes, there are virtually no residents around to use as an excuse for a crackdown, as is being done by Mayor Bloomberg of New York.
But there is something else at work here. The city of Los Angeles has been allegedly ripped off by big banks, according to TIME magazine. It has also been mulling a bank accountability proposal that would benefit consumers and homeowners, as well as ensure transparency in loans to the city:

First introduced more than two years ago, the proposal had lost steam until the zeal of Occupy Los Angeles gave it momentum, according to its sponsor, councilman Richard Alarcon. "We felt the resolution kind of captured the spirit of the entire movement," Alarcon says. "We were sort of kindred spirits." If implemented, the initiative would set up a report-card system to rate banks and deny them business if they score too low.
Banks' scores would be determined by factors such as the number of home-loan modifications they give to homeowners to prevent foreclosures, how much lending they do to small businesses and whether the institutions have committed fraudulent activity. And there is reason to suspect fraud. In 2008, the city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against 35 financial institutions alleging wrongdoing like rigging bidding processes to manage city debt. The suit has yet to be settled as the city waits for state and federal investigations to conclude amid similar accusations in other cities.

When looking for the potential of Occupy Wall Street to redresses grievances through action, perhaps one should follow the famous quotation from the 1800s: "Go West young man."
In this bicoastal nation, it is gratifying to see a Los Angeles tilt toward occupying Wall Street.
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout