Public space, private party

The same question I asked yesterday can be applied today to this.

So why is (Armstrong) park closed for a full week’s time for a one-night event?

Initially I’d thought that it’s because the city didn’t want to maintain security/a police presence, but now I suspect that there’s an even simpler explanation: because there’s nothing for the visitors to buy there, it’s been sold out for a private event, denying the public reasonable access without a second thought.

In discussing this casually online, one friend suggested that possibly it was a measure to keep our city’s visitors within the Clean Zone’s boundaries; he added that the enhanced police presence in the Clean Zone would also reinforce this theory.

Another friend replied, “[It's] more like without a first thought — not a second one. It seems right now that we (the folks) are all in the back row for the big show.”

One can only wonder how much the city is being paid for this week of exclusive use and hope that those funds will eventually serve the public-at-large in a meaningful way.

I doubt they gave it much, if any, thought.  In their minds, our local elected leaders don't work for us.  Their clients are the NFL and its attached sponsors. And their job is to move us out of their clients' way while they use our stuff.