PORT TOWNSEND — The first Occupy Port Townsend general assembly is planned Saturday.
The assembly, which is open to the public, will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Church on San Juan Avenue at 22nd Street in Port Townsend.
The general assembly will start making short-term and long-term plans for Occupy Port Townsend actions.
Occupy Port Townsend, which is part of a national movement, began at a pre-Occupy rally in October, when Jeanne Simmons, Port Townsend resident and mother of two, invited people to gather every Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. next to the Port Townsend Farmers Market at Lawrence and Taylor streets.
“People are losing their jobs, their pensions, their health care,” Simmons said.
“Middle-class Americans are slipping into bankruptcy, foreclosure and homelessness,” she added.
‘Critical mass’
“I think the number of people living with serious grievances reached a critical mass this fall, and folks started taking to the streets and joining the Occupy Movement.”
Simmons said the goals of the Occupy Port Townsend movement have been to strengthen local democracy and the economy, to stand with the global movement and to support other small communities in forming their own movements.
“Occupy Port Townsend organizers hope that Port Townsend residents representing many causes, and with diverse concerns, will attend the general assembly,” she said.
“Our goal is to find our common ground and work together to make real change.”
For more information about Occupy Port Townsend, visit www.occupyporttownsend.org, email occupyporttownsend@gmail.com or search for its Facebook page.