Fees for the Formerly Free | Tragic Comedy

Anna Gregoline | September 20, 2004
Interesting opinion piece about government parks charging fees for usage of public land, thereby making it not exactly public.

Kris Weberg | September 20, 2004
Hey, don't you know there's a war on? Money's gotta come from somewhere.

Melissa Erin | September 20, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | September 20, 2004
I'm sure they probably did appear before the war - I wouldn't make any connection there. But it's kind of rude to have to pay for access to public areas. What's next, a fee for using the sidewalk?

Melissa Erin | September 20, 2004
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Scott Hardie | September 22, 2004
I'd pay good money never to put up with road construction and the ensuing traffic jams ever again.

If I was a conspiracy theorist, and I'm proud not to be one, I'd speculate that these fees were being created to drive down attendance at public parks, so that people would get less used to having them, and the Bush administration would have an easier time turning them over to developers. Then again, I heard that the Bush administration is so desperate to secure re-election that they have created this string of hurricanes in Florida by canceling the space shuttle program. Didn't you know that the launching of a space shuttle every few weeks calms the air here? That's why the Columbia was deliberately blown up, to disrupt the Florida voting season so that Bush would win the state and the election.

Yeah.