Neighbors,
I'm gonna push you to open your eyes to the reality that park privatization has
already occured for clark Park. The American people didn't generally know that
there were various forms of privatization aimed at our urban parks, until
Occupy Wall St. at Zuchotti park in Manhatten. But privatization of public
spaces has many different forms, and Philadelphia has the form that keeps
taxpayers responsible financially!
The Clark Park Partnership has had "invitational only meetings" for a couple of
years. For over a decade, I've been telling people that Penn and the
corporations would like to privatize Clark Park. I would argue that
privatization was completed when the Clark Park Partnership was formed and
invitational only meetings were optimized! (Hey plutocrats, is optimize the
proper business term?)
Invitational only meetings are not legal policy meetings for city departments
according to the Sunshine law. But control of the actual physical space, as
evidenced by the Clark Park redesign, opperates completely in privacy through
this "partnership." The neighborhood rejected the killing of the trees, the
gravel pit, Roundup, and closed park redesign meetings long ago. Yet control
of the people's participation in decisions regarding the physical space of the
park was officially transferred a couple of years ago with the official
invitational only meetings.
Now, it's the beginning of terminating park culture, that comes with the
obfuscation around the new park rental fees !
Control of park rental fees is being privatized to "friends groups." With the
new definition of "Friends groups," the absolute control of park culture also
becomes privatized by the process of charging the new rental fees or granting
waivers. As soon as permits are required and "the activity location committee"
does its dirty work, there won't be the possibility of a free and open culture
for Philadelphia neighborhoods. Development of a sense of community will be
destroyed.
The SHCA/FOCP/UCD/CCD may now have the power over the people's rights and
expenses in Clark Park, but these groups have no requirement to be accountable
to the people!!! Since the power over the insane new rental fees is an
absolute power, our culture has now been privatized, absolutely! It doesn't
matter if they wait 7 years, like they did with the park redesign, our rights
are gone!
The dynamic culture that developed and evolved at Clark Park will never again
happen if our culture is a centrally controlled corporate decision! That is
what is happening. Are we going to allow this Orwelian corporate horror to
fall on future generations, or will we open our eyes and open our hearts with
some courage! Save our parks! Save our rights!
Singin' power to the people,
Glenn
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