Mayor says no to Tent State overnight (Denver will turn on the sprinklers)

Rocky Mountain News ^ | 7/28/08 | Daniel J. Chacon

[NormsRevenge]

A college-age protest group that wants to camp overnight in City Park during the Democratic National Convention next month is going to have to find another place to sleep.

Mayor John Hickenlooper told radio host Mike Rosen, who writes a column for the Rocky, that Tent State University's plans for a sleepover for as many as 50,000 protesters are out of the question.

The mayor also told Rosen that the city might turn on the sprinklers if the protesters don't abide by Denver's 11 p.m. curfew.

Councilwoman Carla Madison, whose district includes City Park, said overnight camping is not an option.

--snip--

Adam Jung, an organizer and spokesman for Tent State, could not be reached for comment.

--snip--

Madison said other protest groups could make similar requests if Tent State were given permission.

"My concern is all the Re-create '68 folks who've been wanting to sleep in Civic Center Park," she said, referring to the group that promised to make the bloody 1968 Democratic convention "look like a small get-together."

"If we say yes in City Park, I'm not sure how we could say no in Civic Center Park," she said.

Madison also is worried about the precedent it could set.

"Right now, we don't even let the Boy Scouts sleep in the parks. It isn't political. It doesn't have anything to do with any message or anybody. It's just that we don't do that," she said.

"Once you let one group do it, even though (the DNC) is an extraordinary circumstance and all that, I think that it opens up the door to a lot of people just thinking that they should be able to do it, and then if we say no, they can sue us for it," Madison added.

[NormsRevenge]

I like the sound of sprinklers in the night, it sounds like.. victory.

[Dinah Lord]

Maybe some skanky hippies will finally get a shower...

[NormsRevenge]

watch out for the ones that melt. :-o

[Abathar]

Pour some Ivory soap into the sprinkler system first.

[NormsRevenge]

chukk chukk chukk chukk ..

[rogue yam]

Sprinklers, good. Sprinklers and clubs, better.

[Abathar]

In all honesty I bet they look at this as a challenge and will do it anyway so they can brag how “The Man” couldn’t keep them down.

[Ouderkirk]

Ivory soap......not strong enough !!!

Need some serious degreaser/disinfectant/deodorizer for this motley lot.

[darkangel82]

Their first in a long time.

[oh8eleven]

IIRC, Chicago's 1968 "love-in" started in a park.

[Devilinbaggypants]

Throw in a little tear gas and a few rubber bullets and some union construction workers with clubs and some beer and we’ll have a party!

[Red Badger]

I forget. What izzit that floats on water?.....

[N. Theknow]

A college-age protest group that wants to camp overnight in City Park during the Democratic National Convention next month is going to have to find another place to sleep.

Oh, NO!

The water will cause their make-up to run.

Will this turn into another

TENT STATE MASCARA?

[Red Boots]

Right now, we don't even let the Boy Scouts sleep in the parks. It isn't political. It doesn't have anything to do with any message or anybody. It's just that we don't do that," she said.

I'll bet they let homeless people sleep in the parks all the time.

[Paleo Conservative]

The mayor also told Rosen that the city might turn on the sprinklers if the protesters don't abide by Denver's 11 p.m. curfew.

Damned! I wish he hadn't warned them.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

??? They would just break/block the sprinklers and cause localized flooding like the morons they are.

[NormsRevenge]

whatever happened to ‘Get a room?’ ? outlying areas should ‘benefit’, letting this many folks trash a public area is nuts..

[The Worthless Miracle]

You all know that this would be, in reality, 40% protest and 60% “excuse to get high/drunk”, right? lol

[gridlock]

This is a no-brainer. The best way to maintain control is to clear the parks out on a daily basis. If the people are allowed to camp there, there will be no effective way for the police to maintain control of the parks. If they lose control of the parks, they lose control of the city.

NYC went through this in 2004. The City denied requests to camp in Central Park during the RNC, and the protesters howled at the grave injustice, and threated to sleep there anyway. For the weeks preceding the convention, there was a constant drumbeat of how hundreds of thousands of people were going to show up to camp in the park, and there was nothing the NYPD could do about it.

When the Republicans arrived for the convention, maybe 20 people refused to abide by the curfew, and they were promptly arrested.

[iowamark]

Forget the sprinklers, give them the crap cannon.

[gridlock]

The mayor should close the parks at sundown, for the duration of the Convention. Just clear ‘em out.

[Red Badger]

These are supposedly “college age”, so they probably don’t have any money for real hotels..............Besides, if the spend their money on a room, what will they have left to spend for the beer and or dope?.............

[Red Boots]

Madison, who lives across the street from the park, said one of her concerns is that an influx of people will descend on Denver to participate in a big sleepover. "We could just get a lot of people just showing up to camp," she said. "People from out of state, if they found out that we were going to open up free camping in the park, would say, 'Hey, we can actually go to the DNC and stay for free. We don't have to pay $500 a night.'.

" The real reason: greed. The city doesn't want to forgo the massive lodging tax they've put in place for all the lucky delegates. They need it to offset the money they've already given away by letting all the DNC people have free gas and car whashes.

[MortMan]

BOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Baynative]

"My concern is all the Re-create '68 folks who've been wanting to sleep in Civic Center Park," she said, referring to the group that promised to make the bloody 1968 Democratic convention "look like a small get-together."

If told to go stand behind the barricades the current crop of fringe liberals will march in neat rows of two by two on their way to the corral. These loser wannabes have no idea what it was like in the 60's. They are only trying to act out what they have seen in the movies.

The liberals of 2008 are described in Mick Jagger's prophetic "Street Fighting Man".

Hey! think the time is right for a palace revolution
But where I live the game to play is compromise solution

[JennysCool]

I have a feeling the old hippies’ “second childhood” has just about run its course, like all fads do in America.

An annoying, overhyped DNC should seal the deal.

[Centurion2000]

Reload the water main for the sprinkler with muriatic acid / water mix. Might actually get those smelly hippies cleaned up.

[doug from upland]

I hope that Hillary’s Menopausal Minions will go nuts in Denver.

[LiberConservative]

Mike Rosen was probably on the top of his game talking about this. Few conservatives are more fun or make more sense than Mike.

[N. Theknow]

Pour some Ivory soap into the sprinkler system first.

Got just the thing...

[ichabod1]

I understand that flying the viet cong flag was just a little more than the cops could handle back then. They would be more used to that kind of treason now.

[keepitreal]

"Right now, we don't even let the Boy Scouts sleep in the parks. It isn't political. It doesn't have anything to do with any message or anybody. It's just that we don't do that," she said.

Baloney. If you go to Civic Center Park any night you will see the homeless sleeping there. Heck, they sleep there even during the day.

[Darth Hillary]

A tape loop of the anointed one chanting 'Yes We Can' will send them all into a fainting spell.

Like young cheerleaders, damp from a thrill running up their legs.

[F15Eagle]

There are reports that the gov’t has been landing helicopters in Denver preparing for riots. This is not tinfoil stuff; this is real.

[Abathar]

I heard of that stuff! They get it from scraping the dead skin and microbial growth out between Teddy Kenedy’s skin folds.

[reagan_fanatic]

The mayor also told Rosen that the city might turn on the sprinklers if the protesters don't abide by Denver's 11 p.m. curfew.

I don't know if that's such a good idea. All that dirt might wash off those hippies and clog up the sewer drains.

[cookcounty]

We’ll see——it doesn’t take a lot of brains to disable a sprinkler system.

[lightman]

Pour some Ivory soap into the sprinkler system first.

Too nice. Habernero juice.

[ichabod1]

They’re going to give them movie tickets.

[weegee]

Madison also is worried about the precedent it could set.

"Right now, we don't even let the Boy Scouts sleep in the parks.

YES, once you let maggot infested pinkos in who have sworn to disrupt the peaceful assembly of political parties, you may EVENTUALLY have to let those God clinging Boy Scouts camp in the park TOO!

[weegee]

If you turn on the sprinkler system their blotter acid will be ruined.

[tumblindice]

CS gas: hippie strength. And lay it on thick.

[Fundamentally Fair]

There are reports that the gov’t has been landing helicopters in Denver preparing for riots. This is not tinfoil stuff; this is real.

Are they Black Helicopters...

[weegee]

Ah but the hippies were told that an act like the Beatles or Rolling Stones were going to appear. In the end, it was the MC5 from Detroit and there was no available power so they had to use the generator from a hamburger wagon to power their equipment.

“WHERE’S MICK!!???? WE WANT RINGO! WE WANT RINGO!!!”

[Red Badger]

ROFLMAO!!!!!.................They still make that stuff?..............

[Hatheos]

Does it give the same frequency as the note the boys in South Park played? The note made everyone deficate in their pants. Really funny episode.

[F15Eagle]

Well I hope we don't see that. Janet Reno's debacle at Waco was more than I ever thought I'd see in this country.

However, it seems like they're preparing just in case. In this post-9/11, counter-terrorism training is a good thing, of course.

[libs_kma]

50,000 lib protestors has to raise an unbelievable stench.

I wouldn't let them camp overnight either. No one has a tent big enough to fumigate the park after they've left.

[Mark was here]

Let them sleep in the park. Water is too precious a resources to waste on bathing hippies.

Why should the city not trust liberals to behave anyway. These folks are perfect, just ask them.