Ohio tea party drawing furor

Tea party opponent wants city to cancel event
'That is our park and I don’t want them in our park'
--Dayton Daily News, Ohio

Brookville Tea Party draws controversy

By Kevin O’Boyle, Contributing Writer
1:49 PM Thursday, June 11, 2009

BROOKVILLE — The anticipated Tea Party event, scheduled for July 3 at the city’s Golden Gate Park, drew the ire of an opponent of the event.

“I am against the Tea Party coming to our park,” Charlotte Szabo said at the Tuesday, June 2, City Council meeting. “That is our park and I don’t want them in our park.”

Szabo’s objections to the event stemmed from her opinion that the event’s organizers held Republican Party viewpoints.

“This is not a Democratic or Republican event,” Mayor Dave Seagraves said. “They are people who want a voice calling for smaller government.”

The event planners are expecting several thousand people to attend the event. Organizers have scheduled about two hours of speakers, similar to an event held April 15 in Dayton.

The July 3 event will be capped off by an evening fireworks display.

Law Director Rod Stephan explained to Szabo that the city could not discriminate against the event’s organizers.

“I believe anyone who wants to use the park, submits valid permits, and pays the appropriate costs, we cannot discriminate on any grounds, be it race, religion, or even political affiliation,” Stephan said.

Stephan said the main factor in limiting any public property use in Brookville is public safety.

Dave Monnin of the Park Board said the organizers, Dayton Tea Party Inc. will pay the city for all expenses incurred at the event, including the costs of the fireworks, and that the event represents “an amount of people coming to Brookville spending money here that would not have happened otherwise.”

“The Park Board (members) are doing their jobs,” Seagraves said. “What I want to make sure is we are not in a discriminating position. You can be against the (viewpoints of the organizers), and that is your right.”

City Manager John Wright said he met with event organizers June 1, and the anticipated costs to the city for the event will be between $3,500 and $4,000.

“They had no problem with that,” Wright said.

He said a special-use permit signed by the organizers spells out that they are liable for all costs to the city. He said Dayton was paid in full by event organizers for the April 15 event.

Police Chief Ed Preston said 10 uniformed Brookville officers will be on-hand, and he anticipated obtaining six uniformed Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies.

He said neighboring police jurisdictions may be called on for further assistance, and security details from the event organizers include many off-duty police officers.

In other business, Preston said that his department had stepped-up patrols in the uptown area, trying to prevent some disturbances that occurred there last summer.

He said police had received calls of some disturbances occurring elsewhere in the city, but those calls came after the fact.

“If people see something going on, they need to call us right away, so we can deal with it then,” Preston said.

A resolution calling for an increase in the mayor’s salary was approved, but not before much discussion.

Currently, the mayor is paid $3,500 per year. The new salary, effective Jan. 1, 2010, would be $5,000.

Councilman Darrell Reel said in light of the current economy, it is a bad time to be raising public servants’ pay rates. Councilman Ron Ullery pointed out the city charter stipulates the council must act on this matter only in odd-numbered years, and prior to July 1 of those years.

Councilman Chuck Letner supported the pay raise. “I think the mayor is the ‘ultimate’ ambassador for the city, and I support this,” he said.

The next meeting of City Council will be June 16 at the Brookville Municipal Building, 301 Sycamore St.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/community/brookville/brookville-tea-party-draws-controversy-158837.html

July 4 Atlanta Tea Party Cancelled

With as many as 20,000 people attendance, the Atlanta Tea Party on April 15 was one of the largest and most successful Tea Parties in the country. The Atlanta Tea Party on July 4, 2009 had been expected to be just as large. Unfortunately, plans have changed. Simon Property Group has forced the cancellation of the Atlanta Tea Party.

The Atlanta Tea Party was forced to cancel its Independence Day celebration in Gwinnett, after losing its location due to the objection of Gwinnett Place Mall (a Simon company.) The Tea Party had been scheduled to take place in the parking lot of the old Macy's building at Gwinnett Place since March.


"It is unfortunate the event had to be canceled," said Julianne Thompson, event co-organizer. She continued, "The old Macy's building is on private property, and not owned by Simon Malls, however the mall manager asked the property owner and I to come in the office on Thursday of this week [June 18], and told us Simon does not want political events on its property. They were also concerned about the fact we were using the term "protest." Although the event was on private property, the mall was able to assert authority on the matter due to reciprocal property easement agreements.


Event Co-Chair Debbie Dooley stated, "Our Atlanta Tea Party team tried for the next day and a half to find an alternative location large enough for the event, and with the proper layout for our vendors, children's activities, and fireworks show, but we could not find anything suitable that would have been available on July 4th.