But should some things be for sale? Does everything always have a price?
Like most people, I have no expectation of owning a Faberge egg. I do have an expectation that I will be able to use a public beach. I certainly never thought I would be refused access to a public restroom. Is that “fair”?
What exactly is it about the laws or ordinances governing the use of publicly-owned facilities, Amethyst? You are routinely refused admittance to that public beach on Mondays. You told us that yourself. That facility is therefore made available for private use on that day of the week. The monies generated presumably go to paying for the additional maintenance and staffing required.
You are also routinely refused admittance to the public government buildings after hours. You are routinely refused services therein after the posted working horus.
In short, you have nothing to complain about.
I see several problems with this statement:
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Public spaces may be, generally, open to the public. But they are not ALWAYS open. They must be closed at some time. There are very few public spaces that are open (and staffed) 24-7. Therefore, if a private group wishes to use a public space during a time when it would normally be closed - then what’s the issue? As long as they’re paying for the added expense of keeping the facility open at a time outside of it’s regular hours, they’re not just sponging off the system.
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I think you’re seeing a “slippery slope” that, frankly, doesn’t exist. Nearly all public facilities in my city (city owned and operated) can be available for private rental under certain circumstances. However, this does not mean that the city is going to convert them to fully private facilities. In fact, occasionally renting out space is an excellent source of revenue to ensure that the public space stays public for the majority of the time.
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(This isn’t directly related to the above quote, but…) I’m wondering why you posted this in Great Debates. I don’t see that you’re interested in listening to any debate here. You just brush off everyone else’s points with “well, I don’t think it’s right.” And that’s fine. But maybe this would have been better off in IMHO - if you wanted a poll to see what other people’s opinions on the topic are.
I would like to add, that I think that it was unkind that the people renting the beach didn’t allow you to use the bathroom facilities. Many public beaches/parks have very few bathrooms, with no nearby buildings or businesses with bathrooms to use. Although they might not have been “required” to let you use the bathroom, it would have been the right thing to do.
Our city has several public golf courses which are closed on mondays. Still, they can be rented out for tournaments on mondays and are quite often. The course gets extra dollars to maintain the facilities and a group of people get to use the course in exchange.
It is a public space BUT no one plays there on monday EXCEPT in this situation. The same reasoning should be held with the lake issue. Come back on Tuesday and enjoy the beach. Today (Monday) we are closed.
If you have a problem with this then go talk to your local representative about changing the policy. I don’t think you are going to get anywhere with them though because opening the park 7 days a week runs up the operating costs while only opening it up for paying parties covers the cost and maybe makes a little too.
Hey here’s a thought; rent it out yourself some monday!
Is there an argument here other than “I don’t think it’s right” or are we working in circles?
What prevents the private group from deciding they want to rent it out during the week are the rules that no doubt limit the rentals to Mondays. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that the reason the beach is closed on Mondays is to allow rentals to groups.
But about no rentals of public space, ever - really? No rentals pf baseball fields , hockey rinks , football fields , golf courses , tracks etc? Find a place that doesn’t rent these, ever and it will either be a place that has no organized sports or a place where every Little League is wealthy enough to own it’s own baseball fields.
But maybe this would have been better off in IMHO - if you wanted a poll to see what other people’s opinions on the topic are.
Got it. 
I have attempted to talk to my community leaders but they’re all vacation right now.
And I’ve also learned which camp my child will not be attending so the day was useful for something.
Yeah that will show them:rolleyes:
Look…there’s nothing wrong with the town renting out public spaces one day a week. The only issue here is that you feel some kind of Al Bundy-esq rage over being told that you can’t use it that day.
The bathroom thing might be a legitimate complaint except that maybe the people who rented the park might not want to pay to have people coming in and out of their event to take a shit. Restaurant bathrooms are public too but they aren’t generally opened to people right off the street.
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And left the rest of it vacant? 
What good would that have done?
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It’s an eminently reasonable message. There are many things in life that you can only do if you have enough money. Renting a facility when it is closed to the general public is one of them.
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Oh, for God’s sake. . . . I assure you, the kids were having too much fun splashing around to philosphise about the privledges of having money. In sincerely doubt that any of them noticed you, or even if they did, gave it a second thought. After all, *they weren’t doing anything wrong. * They weren’t circumventing any rules. They were playing by them.
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Some people have other opinions of what’s “appropriate” and that’s maybe why they needed to swim when the general public wasn’t there.
I went to a Christian school, which occasionally booked the pool at the YMCA after hours so the kids could swim. The reason being that the kids wouldn’t have to be around who might be acting in un-Christian ways. For a lot of these kids, their parents wouldn’t let them go to the “Y” during normal business hours because of “what they might see.” The only way they were able to swim was during one of these Christian events.
It’s also easier to keep track of a large group of children on an empty beach. Parents trust that this day camp will keep their kids safe and ensure that they behave. It would be horribly easy to lose track of a child in a large crowd of people. This way, the counselors could keep an eye on the kids, and not have to worry about strangers. (Which is probably why you were forbidden use of the bathrooms.)
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I agree, but there’s nothing unfair about the situation.
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As do I, but unfortunately the money that each individual agency gets from my tax dollars isn’t always enough. That’s why I support the notion of using the facility to earn extra money when it won’t inconvenience the public.
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It’s no different from telling them, “The beach is closed.”
Even if they only earned $100 for the day (which I think is a very low estimate) * it was more than they usually get per day. *
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Of course I do. But I’m also willing to accept that just because something is public doesn’t mean that it must always be available for my use.
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Again, you’re missing the point.
If your city decided to, they could totally cut the budget for the beach, or sell it off to the highest bidder. They * could * do that if the budget became too tight to support it any longer.
Instead, they have decided to make room in the budget, juggling other parks, city services and projects in order to try to keep everything available. What these public servants do is try to nake everything work on increasingly tighter budgets. I assure you that sacrifices in other areas have had to be made in order to keep this beach open and free for the public.
Instead of the public being grateful for all of the hard work and dedication that goes into ensuring that these resources will be available to them, public servants get nothing but gripes and complaints.
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But what about those poor children you brought up earlier? How unfair it would be for them to be unable to use the beach because they don’t have the money for it! Didn’t you say, “A public beach should not be for sale?”
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If they are making a profit, good for them. It will help to pay for improvements, and for other park projects around the city.
However, I have my doubts that they are making a profit. There are myriad other costs involved other than just the payroll, after all.
I’m sorry, but I sthink your stance is unreasonable.
When in Beijing last year, I was refused entry to Chairman Mao’s tomb as the facility was rented out for a private party.
It remains unreported if the Great Helmsman was spinning in his coffin at the thought.