As movement expands, SD?protesters march to ‘bridge’ gap of inequality

Occupy Mission Bay took to the streets Nov. 17, shutting down the westbound lane of the Clairemont Drive bridge near the visitor center and proudly displaying handmade signs, banners and even art to illustrate their cause to passing drivers on the southbound lane of Interstate 5 below. Signs and chants ranged from demands for universal healthcare and job creation, cries to end corporate greed, and pleas to Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-50th Dist.) to fix infrastructure in the district — including the bridge upon which they stood. Despite the diversity of themes, all of the demands fell under the overarching mantra of “We are the 99 percent” and “We deserve better.” “We got involved in this because in 2008, Wall Street gambled away our retirement, our business went kaflooey, we lost the house we were trying to sell and the house we were trying to retire to, and we had to file bankruptcy in 2009,” said Sharon Jacobs, an Occupier who came from Oceanside with her husband, Frank. “This feels a lot better than crying about the fact that we can’t retire the way we thought we would.” Another protester who traveled from Mira Mesa issued a specific plea to a targeted audience — the target being Bilbray. “He is not voting for the Jobs in America bill. I want people to be involved to talk to Brian Bilbray to switch his opinion to vote for the Jobs in America bill,” said David Stewart. “He never diverges his vote. He’s always lock-step with the Republicans. I find that’s not conducive with the interests of everybody in his district. There’s a lot of people in his district who would rather see this bridge get fixed before the trolley comes through, and it would create jobs in the area.” An Ocean Beach doctor was among the bridge occupiers who urged for a drastic overhaul of the healthcare system, one that is “expensive, inefficient and draws a lot of resources away from people,” he said. “The healthcare system is all screwed up, and the reason that it’s all screwed up is because the insurance companies are making profits,” said Dr. Jeoffry Gordon. “They’re all financial institutions like Wall Street. They make money for their shareholders. The amount of maldistribution in this country is astonishing. It’s not the 1 percent. It’s the one-tenth of 1 percent.” He said the five biggest healthcare companies make more than $12 billion a year in profits. “We have 50 million uninsured people in the United States,” Gordon said. “200,000 of those uninsured are in San Diego County. It’s pain and suffering out here. I have to live with it every day. I have to lift people up out of the environment they’re stuck in. I can’t believe people are sleeping while their country is stolen out from under them.” Fellow Occupier Jerry Malamud agreed. “The big problem with our society is that we can put people in the Dumpsters. We don’t care about people,” he said. “Everyone in America should have health insurance. It’s a right, not a privilege.” Police were on hand to secure a safe environment for the protesters and there were no incidents or arrests reported. “It was a great event for the community, and the police department played a significant role in making sure that everybody had a safe environment in which to protest,” said Capt. Brian Ahearn, Northern Division’s new police captain. “I give the credit to the people who came out to protest. They wanted to do it peacefully. They were loud, they were proud and I think the folks that had something to say got to say it.” Ahearn said his team did a “tremendous job” — especially given the special circumstances of a bridge protest. “We brought in some resources that we thought would be effective for creating a safe environment for a protest on a bridge,” he said. “A protest on a bridge brings with it a whole lot of significant risks for people, so we tried to balance that with what the protest groups want to accomplish.” Following the bridge protest, many of the Occupiers gathered at Mission Bay Park for a meet-and-greet event, while others took their cause to the federal building downtown to march alongside an Occupy movement for immigrant rights.