11-28-2018, 11:02 PM
(11-28-2018, 03:29 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(11-28-2018, 03:00 PM)jamincan Wrote: Come on Dan. This is what you said, and it's a rather profoundly uncharitable interpretation of the situation. The whole city quite plainly has not gone straight to "shut it down". The fact is that they've done quite the opposite and have tolerated the situation for a long time now and have even tried to provide (a rather poor) alternative. Rather than discuss the substance of what people have said, you keep on painting people as if they're advocating for some sort of war on students, which couldn't be further from the truth.
The fact is that right now there are thousands of people having an illegal party on the Ezra Street, which isn't really a tenable situation in the long term. If it could somehow be made a sanctioned and legal event that can safely operate, I think most people would advocate for that. There is the issue, though, that a large number of partygoers are underage and wouldn't be allowed at any legal and licensed event. That said, I think what you're proposing is probably along the lines of the best option. If you have a credible alternative to the Ezra St. parties that attracts enough people, the parties would die, or at least be more manageable. Illegal file sharing didn't really go away with online music providers and streaming, but it's diminished considerably. The same approach might work for Ezra Street.
First of all, there is no such thing as an "illegal" party...if there was, the people involved would have been arrested and charged, there are illegal activities that take place during the event, and people are charged for them. That does not make the event "illegal", and this framing, frankly, is part of the problem I have with the whole discussion on this issue.
And yes, I am ascribing an attitude to the "whole city" which I see mainly portrayed through facebook comments and letters to the editor which is perhaps, unfair, but I can tell you, as a student, that was the attitude I saw representing the city.
I say that the city is not interested in organizing an event, because they absolutely could do so, but choose not too, as for an event, there are no age restrictions at many events, most of those have a separate place for the serving of alcohol.
You can't honestly think that. You cant think that every person at the party was of age, and that those that were under age were charged. And that no one was drinking on public property and not being charged. The police laid a lot of charges, but looked the other way to most.