Occupy Newark got started last week, and Mayor Cory Booker has since showed up and extensively engaged the occupiers. See this link for a livestream replay, which should be showing for a few days, yet (as Occupy Newark only schedules a few days per week). He comes across as completely empathetic, and hard-working for the good of Newark. He's not allowing tents (which I don't have a problem with), but he's given orders to support Occupy Newark (basically, non-harassment by police; I think they also lifted the pre-existing curfew).
I'm posting this mostly out of gratitude and admiration for what Booker seems to be about. (I don't follow local and state politics, much, so I'm judging based on my impression of what he said, and how he said it.) However, as it seems to me that Booker is thinking about how Occupy Newark and city-connected efforts that he's pushing might be synergistic, there's another reason for posting a diary. If he's successful in facilitating synergy, Booker + Newark + Occupy Newark could serve as a model for other occupations and cities. E.g., he's put his finger on a fundamental problem, that cuts across much of our predicament, and that is for people to get worked up by seeing something on TV, shake their fists, get angry, and then do exactly nothing. (Reminiscent of "blogging to the choir", no?) He contrasted this phenomenon with statistics that show how helpful it is for young people to have mentors, but that Newark's TV-agitated residents don't, by and large, step up and become mentors.
Occupy Newark, by encouraging civic involvement, can help solve the lack-of-engagement-problem, which has EVERYTHING to do with how successful Newark is in dealing with it's problem.
God bless Cory Booker. Occupy X, keep your eyes on Newark.
2:24 PM PT: As an example of a "synergy" to be considered by OccupyNewark, they could have local marches and teach-ins designed to reach out to locals to recruit them into mentoring programs. That may not DIRECTLY help them achieve a more reform-Wall-Street goal, but it buys them good will within the community, and in a way that is non-partisan. That should open all sorts of doors to them. E.g., they may be asked to speak at local schools about their mentor-recruiting efforts, and not-so-incidentally reinforce their main agenda, which is tackling corporate and bankster greed.
If you were a student attending such a talk, you may well decide to start taking part in Occupy activities.