Denver Direct: The Naysayer of the Month
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Naysayer of the Month
(The Naysayer is a print-only monthly penned by Denver historian Phil Goodstein, who graciously gives us permission to publish it here. The Naysayers next meet on Saturday, March 6, Enzo’s Pizza, 3424 Colfax (between Cook and Madison) 5:30 PM)
In face of mass opposition to his policy of sealing off the city’s parks to private interests to stage profit-driven, admission charged events, Mayor John Hickenlooper created a packed commission to study the subject a couple of years ago. Even while it has pondered the issue and how to get around charter provisions specifying that the city’s parks are public spaces, not private venues, the administration went ahead with a scheme to fence off the Civic Center so the film elite could drink and dine there this summer while watching movies to which tickets cost $15 to $20 each. Amazingly, four members of city council had the wherewithal to say no to the project. Eight others acted in their usual role as rubber stamps—one member was absent. Meanwhile, the promoter had barraged the public with rather illiterate Promotional pieces while asserting that the destruction of the Civic Center as a public space is actually an epochal step toward Denver’s emergence as a world-class arts city. Despite getting everything it has wanted from the Hickenlooper administration, US OpenAir of Massachusetts, the company behind what has been billed as the OpenAir Cinema, has announced it will not be able to close the Civic Center as promised in 2010. After receiving the green light from city hall, it had to concede that its finances are so shaky that it lacked the adequate sponsors and the preparations to get a liquor license. (The all-so-sophisticated arts crowd cannot think of having any event without alcohol even as the righteous decry drinking by “undesirables,” i.e., the poor in the Civic Center.) Consequently, OpenAir has postponed its abominable scheme for a year. For so showing its inability to deliver on a really bad promise, it is the Naysayer of the Month.
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I see articles like this an it shows me how ignorant most Americans are. Apparently you watched one news story, browsed an article and became "educated" on the subject. Do some research next time.
If you feel that this is in some way infringing on your rights to use Civic Center Park, then why haven't I seen you there on any given night? (Maybe I have - were you brown-bagging it?) If you feel like this is for the film elite... have you gone to movie lately? - This is a FIVE DOLLAR DIFFERENCE! (The same amount you spent on your education!)
As for the no-go on 2010... I'm disappointed in the City of Denver. This is like the 1976 Winter Olympic declination. Why would an event like this not go forward after all of the hubbub involved? I asked myself that and the only answer that I can come up with is this: "uneducated" people are scared of change. They bark when changes occur that are outside their comfort zone. These barks scare politicians, who delay the process, causing the change to be delayed. Therefore, this magnificent event is delayed, not halted, because people like you are too afraid.
Grow some testicles, do some research, before you write like this again.
Sincerely,
D.B.
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