City council members will consider a plan this week to reduce hours at a park outside City Hall that became home to the Occupy LA movement -- a tent city of protesters who camped on the park lawn for a monthslong demonstration.
As construction crews continue to repair the damage left by the encampment, the council on Wednesday will consider Councilman Jose Huizar’s motion to prepare an ordinance changing City Hall Park hours to 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The ordinance would cut hours back from the current 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
It also marks an effort to clarify restrictions on tents and make city sponsored events a priority in the 1.7 acre park.
An open letter to Huizar on the Occupy Los Angeles website calls for his resignation, accusing him of abandoning his Boyle Heights roots and turning his back on those who elected him. Occupiers have organized an “Emergency Protest” for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Though it's not an official Occupy LA event, many occupiers are "rather upset that the city is focusing on this issue when there are so many other out there," said Alissa Kokkins, an activist with Occupy LA and one of the protest's organizers. "The politicians aren't doing what the people elected them to do."
Huizar was among council members who allowed protesters to break the law prohibiting overnight camping in the park last fall.
The park is expected to reopen in early May, following a nearly $400,000 restoration featuring a new landscape design with less grass and a gravel-like surface made of decomposed granite.
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