OccupyPGH is an experiment in community-building, small-group resilience--and like any good set of sterile, lab-coated scientists, they've got their successes, failures, and work-arounds. This is what I've learned from talking to people at Mellon Green who have kept that experiment ongoing: 

The consensus decision-making model can be tedious but nonetheless fruitful. I am told I can Google it and find something similar to the 8-ish steps they're using; also told that it leaves lots of room for people to "stand aside," not participate. Commentary: standing aside seems to be a way to softly dissent, or to passively throw up one's hands at something one dislikes. Not that there's a lack of avenues to block and question proposals. And they deal with blocks and questions, too, by lengthy conciliatory discussion (or non-lengthy discussion). And things either go through or don't. End result (hopefully), regardless of action taken or not taken: all parties involved are more satisfied with final decision (hopefully), all parties understand each other more (hopefully). Positive and negative comments about process both overheard--mostly positive and constructive.  

Working Groups (WG's) offset the cumbersome nature of General Assembly (GA) meetings. If you care enough about Urban Planning and Nightwatch, you join their WG's and forget about Morale, Food, and Media. The working group decides on certain actions, and then tells the GA what OccupyPGH as a movement is going to do. Due to PR about the working groups, it's impossible to not know when they're having meetings, impossible to not know when they're making decisions that you might want to get in on. 

Question: will all this work? Opinion: doesn't matter if it does or doesn't. More opinion: the thing we should care about is that we have some interesting lessons to learn, here, about building community. If we, TransitionPGH, and associated ventures care to do some of that, OccupyPGH could certainly tell us a story or two, like a friend who suddenly goes off to work a year on a fishing boat in the Pacific while we stick at home working some other just-as-exciting job: we'll each have stories for each other. 

Also have lots of thoughts on personalities, conflicts, and disputes that I've heard of. Will be curious to hear more when I'm actually at Occupy again to do a Gift Circle (and not recovering from food poisoning [on that note avoid the burgers at Fathead's]) and to write more when I have time. 

/janegoodall