Lake Merritt Uptown District Association [LMUDA], is a designated Business Improvement District [BID], formed by 12 businesses/property owners in 2001.
The LMUDA and Occupy Oakland
The Lake Merritt Uptown District Association [LMUDA] and the Downtown Oakland Association [DOA] applied pressure on mayor Jean Quan to dismantle the camps at Oscar Grant [formerly Frank Ogawa] Plaza.1 They claimed "...that the encampment was hurting small businesses who are part of the 99 Percent, and for whom the Occupy movement is supposed to be fighting. However, the chamber and the business groups themselves are controlled by representatives of the One Percent."2
Reference
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"Oakland Business Groups, Fed Up With Occupy, Appeal To Quan" KCBS. 9 Nov. 2011.
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"The One Percent Solution: Business groups dominated by representatives from large corporations lobbied for the crackdown on Occupy Oakland." by Robert Gammon. East Bay Express. 16 Nov. 2011.
Information
http://uptownoakland.localon.com/
"The Disneyfication of Downtown Oakland: Business Improvement Districts and the Battle for Public Space." by Adrian Drummond-Cole and Darwin Bond-Graham. Street Spirit, March 2013. Print.