Public vs. Private: Including a Guest Blog by “S” by Geniusofdespair

Above is a photo by Carlos Miller. SEIU Union staged a protest landing on the beach at Fisher Island, to highlight poor treatment of workers on the Island.

There are 218 households on Fisher Island according to the 2000 census. Since 2005 the super-wealthy residents of the Island have maintained a political action committee that has a goal of incorporation. They have $100,000 set aside for this goal. According to the Miami Herald’s Reporter, Nick Spangler (Nov. 18th):

“Turns out the beach in the most exclusive community in South Florida, composed of sugar-white sand imported from the Bahamas, is public. Not only that: the covenant developers made with the county years ago seems to guarantee public right of way on a pathway leading from the ferry landing to the beach.”

Let's go swimming! All windsurfers can tell you, guards will not let you land on that beach.

So we come to that question what is private and what is public?

With so many cities in our area lacking anything but strip malls, it is hard to find a public place to gather petition signatures. One of our readers “S” has praised Publix and said that she/he believed you can collect signatures for Hometown Democracy at her favorite store. In checking,(word to the wise, never check readers, they will always say no) here is the harsh reality that "S" found:

The corporate food chain took another bite...my man at Publix, who is willing to go to where ever to get what they don't have on the shelf checked with his corporate office and real estate manager...surprise surprise...no political solicitation. I am disappointed. He said " I thank you for not holding a grudge," (Didn't say I wouldn't, don't know if he read this).

Sooo.

Yes something is seriously wrong in the polis if we can't make policy in the agora...and can't organized effectively to design our cities so there is one. Even before you get Hometown Democracy, you need to change the concept of property and public. NYTimes mentioned a site, I think " chillingfact.com," or some such, yesterday over the Big Box stores like Walmart threatening to sue the people who post online info on anticipated sales. Big Boxes have to be challenged, not just boycotted.

What would Thomas Paine do? Back in the day, in addition to getting the pamphlets out, which had a greater circulation than their print numbers, the word, news and shmooze made its way on foot, stopping at various ye old pubs along the way. That was the Founding Fathers' agora...all hail ale. Probably folks were mellower than a hyped up Starbucks denizen today.

What is today's equivalent? Sports bar...something on the news about 10 laptops 10 games, not me, but whatever, not your parents American Legion. Do people shmooze? That's probably a better venue....busy parents at Publix are popping out the DVDs they'll watch over the weekend, kids having curtailed all adventures (unless its some movie titled "Larry?").

Maybe an in-depth public overview of where we are heading and how we got there every thing in the kitchen sink hearing would be in order: sprawl, credit melt down, Wall Street incompetence, no public square, global warming, water wars, nuks gone missing or appearing at a utility near us soon, jobs in China, illiterate, entitled teenagers...
Who wants to stay in the Senate and not run? Who might run but not win, still want a platform?

I think you should develop an overview committee "S". Seems a worthy project. It is far better than depending on the Publix Store for anything more than groceries.