Santa Monica wants to charge people for using their public parks. Wait…WHAT? (10 posts)

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  • Profile picture of limalimamike limalimamike said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Taxpayer money funded the construction of these parks, as well as upkeep and maintenance. Now they want to charge a fee because trainers use the parks and beaches for workouts? ridiculous.

    Typical liberal thinking.

    http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/01/03/santa-monica-officials-consider-fining-fitness-instructors-for-using-parks/

    When are they going to start charging the bums to sleep on the streets, or the drug dealers making money in public.

    Such an asinine mentality.

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  • Profile picture of Geoffrey Thorpe Geoffrey Thorpe said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Sounds to me like they’re just behind the times.

    http://www.bakersfieldcity.us/recreation/park_rental.htm

    Precisely because some people are using them for commercial purposes and overriding other public uses is why they should pay a fee.

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  • Profile picture of Lamonster Lamonster said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    OMG, I’ve got to agree with GT on this one. This is no different from charging a youth football league or a sanctioning volleyball tournament group a fee for the use of the parks. When a for-profit enterprise takes up space in a public park it prevents a taxpayer from using that facility.

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  • Profile picture of Geoffrey Thorpe Geoffrey Thorpe said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Guess the Mayans were only off a few weeks, Lamonster. The apocalypse may be here…we agree! :-)

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  • Profile picture of limalimamike limalimamike said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    So then, are they going to start charging businesspeople a fee for doing business in a park on their smartphone while eating lunch in a park, or on a public street?

    I could understand if you have hundreds of people training at one time in a park, but when you have less than 10 people, it is no more disturbing than a pickup basketball game.

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  • Profile picture of Lamonster Lamonster said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    It’s not the size of the gathering, Mike, it’s the taking of a publicly funded facility for use by a profit generating business. A good example of a business doing this is a restaurant downtown (I won’t name it but it is on 24th St.) that regularly cordons off a section of public sidewalk in front of the restaurant and uses it for it’s customers. How it gets away with this I don’t know but if someday, God forbid, a pedestrian walking by is forced off the sidewalk into the street and is hit by a car there will be hell to pay.

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  • Profile picture of limalimamike limalimamike said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Bums collecting cans in a park = profit generating. Are the cities going to clamp down on that? What i think happened is a SM city official got pissed off because people were working out at a park close to his/her house, and decided to do something about it.

    BTW GEYF is a 501c3, and is charged for use of public facilities. Even when you want to have a birthday party at a local park, you have to pay a fee. Pretty sad, considering that fee is already paid in the form of taxes.
    Double taxation?

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  • Profile picture of Groucho Groucho said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    They have to clean up after you.

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  • Profile picture of Lamonster Lamonster said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    You can have a free family gathering in the park any time you want. It’s only when you want to reserve a structure like a building or a covered picnic area that a fee is required. You do need a permit for alcohol though.
    Is that bum closing off a section of the park while he works? Then yeah, get his money.

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  • Profile picture of Geoffrey Thorpe Geoffrey Thorpe said 5 months, 2 weeks ago:

    The park in question in Santa Monica is overrun with fitness trainers and clients and boot camps and shape up routines. I’ve been there…it’s ridiculous.

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