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.

[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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[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.

[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.