Is the city government in Santa Fe treating the Occupy movement better than the TEA Party? That’s the question asked by Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Steve Terrell in a weekend column.
From Terrell’s column:
“Last week a couple of local GOP activists raised a valid question about basic fairness. Jim and Sheryl Bohlander emailed that they don’t think it’s fair that they had to pay hundreds of dollars to use the Santa Fe Plaza for tea-party events while members of the Occupy Santa Fe movement camp out at the city’s Railyard Park for free.
“‘As two of the principal organizers of the 2009 and 2010 tea-party rallies on the Plaza, we can confirm that we had to secure a permit to use the Plaza, $400 for each event, plus we had to secure at liability insurance policy for both events, well over $300 each time,’ the Bohlanders said in their email. ‘The permit fee for 2011 was $455. Additionally, we had to state specifically the time frame of the events.’
“I realize some readers will be thinking, ‘What the heck? They’re Republicans. They can afford it.’
“But setting political prejudices aside — if that’s ever possible — one can ask if it’s fair to make one group of citizens pay to use a city park for a political gathering while another group gets to use a park for free?”
The answer Terrell got from Santa Fe Mayor David Coss:
“The mayor, a Democrat who presides over our nominally nonpartisan municipal governing body, said the main reason is because of where the tea-party rallies took place, as opposed to where the occupiers are occupying.
“‘They’re at a distant corner of the Railyard Park,’ Coss said. ‘They’re not really affecting anybody.’
“On the other hand, the mayor pointed out, the tea-party events took place on the Plaza, ‘which is the center for commerce in downtown Santa Fe.’
“Coss also said he didn’t waive any fees for anyone camping out at the Railyard Park because there is no fee schedule in place for that.”
Jim Bohlander isn’t satisfied. Here’s what he told Terrell:
“A public park is a public park,” he said. “This is an unequal application of the law.”
Read Terrell’s full column here.