Public Space should be Public

Tonight marks the second of a three-date takeover of Richmond Street in Charlottetown by a concert series called “Rock the Row.”

Which means that if you walk from my house to my office you are greeted with signs like this:

NOTICE.

This in addition to the specter of the entire neighbourhood being surrounded by 8-foot-high prison-like fencing to sequester the entertainment and the ticket-buyers away from public view.

I strongly disagree with the appropriation of public spaces for privately-run for-profit events.

I’m fine with the idea of privately-run concerts held on private land but the notion of closing a public street for commercial gain — especially age-discriminating commercial gain — seems just plain wrong.

Public space should be for the benefit of all the public, and I propose that the City of Charlottetown modify its bylaws with a simple requirement: if you want to use public land for your event, it must be free and open to all residents of the city.

Comments

alexander's picture
alexander on August 12, 2012 - 05:32 Permalink

I really liked it when an old condition of Victoria Park caused the Jack Frost festival to have to be moved. It was like a ghost from a more enlightened time back to tell us that these things are important.

Josh Biggley's picture
Josh Biggley on August 13, 2012 - 20:07 Permalink

Amen Peter, amen.

Care Fortune's picture
Care Fortune on August 17, 2012 - 22:14 Permalink

I was pushing a wheel chair along the boardwalk from the armory to Park West lodge. I had taken the journey in the opposite direction a couple of hours before. Wheeling along I found the public space, the boardwalk, blocked by a wedding hosted by Culinary Institute. It was completely blocked with a screened backdrop. I had no choice but to turn around and walk to Park West Lodge through Haviland Street. That is a taxpayers space and myself and my client were contributing taxpayers.