Of the 75 percent of San Franciscans currently running for mayor, John Avalos has most closely associated himself with the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The progressive supervisor has not only attended many of the protests held in downtown San Francisco over the past couple weeks, but has frequently stepped up to the microphone giving rabble-rousing words of encouragement to the self-proclaimed "99 percenters" who have regularly gathered to protest the role major banks have played in the economic collapse and our economy's current anemic recovery.
(Scroll down for video)
On Wednesday evening, Avalos appeared on Current TV's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" to talk about the Wednesday morning protest that saw demonstrators blocking Financial District traffic and surrounding Well Fargo's corporate headquarters.
"I've spoken a couple times at the movement and I think it largely exists without my participation," said Avalos. "I support it."
When the popular cable news host asked Avalos about the issues driving the protests, the supervisor answered, "We have a large number of foreclosures and a high level of unemployment. People are getting desperate. They're having a hard time paying the mortgage, having a hard time putting food on the table. There's a feeling that the band that got bailed out have not done enough to support the local economy and to support households against foreclosures and defaults."
In his role as a city supervisor, Avalos said he is currently looking into the creation of a municipal bank for the San Francisco to use instead of doing business with major financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Bank of America, "so we can control how we are investing with small businesses and local property owners."
Watch the whole segment below:
Interesting note: the photos of the protest displayed onscreen during the segment were cribbed from Huffington Post San Francisco's very own comprehensive slideshow of Occupy San Francisco photos.
Check out all the pictures:
