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:
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
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.
Amen Peter, amen.
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.