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Erin Brockovich - the public advocate made famous on the silver screen by Julia Roberts - has a message for the temporary residents of Zuccotti park: Get your act together!

Brockovich stopped by The Daily Ticker set this week to discuss her new book, Hot Water and chat about her recent visit to Occupy Wall Street.

The anger and blame galvanized by the movement is understandable, she says, but without a clear message she's afraid the protest won't yield results. Simply living in a park does not create change.

"We are all frustrated," Brockovich tells Jeff Macke in the accompanying interview. "If you don't get yourself together, collectively with some leadership and message to be conveyed then it just falls on a deaf ear."

Her advice for the Occupy Wall Street protesters: get organized, get a spokesperson and make tangible demands.

Brockovich made history more than a decade ago after spearheading and winning a $333 million lawsuit for the

Desperate times call for desperate measures and these are clearly desperate times for a lot of local governments.

In Highland Park, Michigan, near Detroit, the town is removing 1000 of its 1500 streetlights in a draconian attempt to save money as it scrambles to pay off $4 million in unpaid electric bills.

With $58 million in debt, unemployment at 22% and 42% of its roughly 12,000 residents living below the poverty line, Highland Park is clearly an extreme example of a municipality under stress. But towns from Santa Rosa, Calif. to North Andover, Mass. are similarly turning down or turning off the lights in an effort to save money, USA Today reports.

All across America, strapped municipalities are cutting back on what were once viewed as essentially public services.

For example, Denver has cut $500,000 from its trash-collection budget, Camden, NJ cut about 50% of its police force while Los Angeles, Pasadena and other California communities have been closing public libraries.