City to evict occupiers

This is how the world ends
This is how the world ends
This is how the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper. 

"The Hollow Men" -- T.S. Eliot

The City of Houston has informed the Occupy Houston protesters that they must vacate downtown's Tranquility Park by dusk this evening.

Mayor Annise Parker claims the occupation has cost the city $287,268.00 in regular salary and $54,917.68 in overtime pay for police officers. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but those officers who were sent to keep an eye on the park for the last five months were already on the payroll and likely would have been given some other assignment but for the protest. And, it was the city's decision to try to intimidate the protesters by keeping police at the park around the clock.

I don't know what the protest has accomplished here in Houston. It made a big splash when the occupation began and again at the port arrests in December. The occupiers raised some awareness of the influence corporate interests wield in the political process but without a coherent message or ideology, the voices became muddled against the background.

The next couple of hours will tell whether the occupation will make one last splash in Houston.