I hope SCF doesn't pull down this post. I am trying to remain civil, but some ideas are so provocative they deserve a very strong response.

I just can't help asking you, who are you? Where are you from? What system of government do you beleive in? How do you live everyday in this country, in this culture, under this 250-year-old system of democracy and not know this is legal? There is no excuse for such fundamental ignorance in civics!

This is a small group holding an educational event to raise awareness of our over-dependence on fossil fuels. They are doing it in a public park. Sorry, but are you mad?

I assure you that I am not a big oil Republican, but as I wrote in my original post, I'm concerned with the use of a public space promoting a special interest. My larger concern is that, using this as a precedent, other special interest groups could use this space for their own purposes. I attended an event in Balboa Park in San Diego recently where the roadway, not the park itself, was crowded with anti-abortion activists carrying posters of aborted fetuses. How would "guest" feel if that were the "educational event" taking place? I am neither angry "mad" and I don't think I would be diagnosed as insane"mad." But I would hate to have our park taken over on Saturday mornings by fringe groups promoting their own agendas.

Wooster Square Park is not the place to hold conventions on fossil fuels, bio-fuels, windpower, seaweed fuel or any other fuel. Nor is it a place for private parties, biased forums, anti-semetic
meetings, anarchist-educational programs or any other type of one-sided crap that advocates
hate and violence. You DON'T own the park and you have no "right" to take over. If you spent more time
looking for a job, you would be a much happier person. And if you can't find a job, you have no one
to thank but our "wonderful" (ha, ha) president.

Free speech is free speech whether or not the topic is convenient. As has already been posted, if the parties pick up after themselves then there shouldn't be a problem We may not like what another person has to say but we need to be willing to fight for their right to say it. :)

If you do not approve of the message consider that a strong response against it may effectively dignify it... just some food for thought.

As a side note, I'm aware, of course, of the first amendment. I asked whether the promoters of this event had a permit. I was not able to get a clear answer.

Yes, if anti-abortion activists were in WoosterSquare for a few hours demonstrating I would grit and bear it because that is democracy. These questions were answered over 200 years ago by a revolution, a declaration and a constitution. Civics 101.

The issue of minority interests being protected is one of the most essential features of a democracy.

The alternative is far worse.

Wooster Square is public -- it's not like Grammercy Park in NY

Sorry, forgot to address precedent. There is nothing new or unusual about this use. On the contrary, there is so much precedent it is like saying "It's turtles all the way down." There is almost nothing in America so precedented as this use.

Wiz Waz, re it not being the place to hold a forum on alternative fuels. Well, apparently it was: They thought it was, they planned it and they did it. How on earth did that happen when it is so 'not' the place? Wonders never cease.

I am even more suprised to learn that it is not the place for private gatherings either. Wow, because I am planning a picnic lunch with a couple friends. The three of us are going to sit on the grass and eat some sandwiches. Gotta a problem with that too? Should I get your permisison?

Are you going to call police on us or sic a dog on us? Let me know so I can plan accordingly.

I heard Opera on Wooster Square a few weeks ago. Where they heck do they get off singing Traviata? The nerve.

And what does any of this have to do with being employed? I don't get that either.

I mean, define the appropriate uses? Clearly, they are whatever you say they are and not a hair off.

Seems to have run its course.