Good for Lawrence.
If these pampered protesters want to occupy something, let them take over a piece of open property somewhere — preferably one that needs to be cleaned up.
Get you hands dirty.
Make a difference.
But don’t impede the use of public property that OTHERS have funded with their hard-earned tax dollars.
In case you hadn’t heard, here’s how the Associated Press reported the Lawrence reaction to this current fad.
“Members of Occupy Lawrence are looking for a new site to camp after the city ordered them out of a downtown park.
“Lawrence police told the group members Tuesday that they might be arrested and have their gear confiscated if they didn’t move out of South Park.
“Police cited a city ordinance that bars use of the park from 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.
“Tuesday evening several members of the group asked the city commission to help them find a city-owned place to camp. Mayor Aron Cromwell said he doubted the city would meet that request.”
No. Duh!
Unless the city has a camping facility, why should they?
There is a reason that the parks close from midnight to 6 a.m. and that goes for Great Bend, as well as Lawrence. And it doesn’t have anything to do with politics or with racial issues or whatever these folks are protesting.
It has to do with the economy.
OUR economy.
The constant need for a community to balance its intent to provide access to open spaces, against its constant need to provide safety and security.
Taxpayers — people who actually go to work, day in and day out, whether they have their student loans paid or not, whether they believe they have been treated fairly by this culture or not — taxpayers fund these civic operations, and it is WRONG for them to pay higher bills to fund this outing.
Whether it is in Lawrence or Kansas City or Boston or New York, the story is the same.
The taxpayers who are still going to work and paying their bills are being expected to foot the bill for these people’s project.
Hand the bill over to the “protesters” and you’d see this whole movement shut down over night.
— Chuck Smith