Politics: Occupy the Strip!

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Politics Occupy the Strip! The Occupy movement finds its footing in the foreclosure capital of America. By David Weigel Posted Friday, Oct 21, 2011, at 12:02 PM ET LAS VEGAS—On Wednesday, Jerry Mann watched the house next to his get sold at a foreclosure auction. On Thursday, he was a proud participant in Occupy Las Vegas. "It's a shame about that house," says Mann, a former small-town mayor from Michigan who retired to Vegas. "It changed hands a few times, and the last people who were in it—real nice people—they got left holding the bag. The value just went whoooosh." He then tells his own housing history. In 1999 Mann bought a home for $209,000. He added a pool. The value peaked at $666,000 in 2007. It collapsed to $194,000. It's only now crept back up to the original value. He's lucky. He's not underwater. There aren't enough lucky people living in Las Vegas. Unemployment here has fallen recently, but it's still about 14 percent. In August, according to CNN, one out of every 118 homes in the Las Vegas area got a foreclosure filing. Online, you can find foreclosed homes with four or five bedrooms selling for less than $200,000. And so we have Occupy Las Vegas. This offshoot of the still-evolving national movement began with a 1,200-person rally on the Strip on Oct. 6, right in front of the micro-Statue of Liberty at the New York-New York casino. On Tuesday and Thursday, the Occupiers held two more rallies, both fairly small, both attracting a little local media attention. The Tuesday rally, right ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Bachmann's Entire New Hampshire Campaign Staff Quits, Says They Felt "Betrayed and Lied To" The Problem With Voter ID Laws: 25 Percent of Black Americans Don't Have ID Martha Marcy May Marlene Isn't Nearly as Good as the Olsen Kid Sister Who Stars in It	Advertisement
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