It is interesting to me the things that the public gets all fired up about. In my hometown the papers have been filled with letters and articles discussing city council's decision to ban RV's from camping overnight in parking lots. This debate has been going on for about a year, since WalMart came to town and the campground owners took exception to people staying overnight in the WalMart parking lot. At that time council told WalMart that they would have to erect signs informing people they could not camp in parking lots as it is against city bylaws. This apparently was not good enough for the campground owners as this spring they put pressure on city council to start enforcing those bylaws. City council responded with a strategy that would see tickets issued to offending boondockers. Well, boy did the RV world react. Apparently, our town was instantly blacklisted by the RV world as emails swirled informing the geriatric gypsies of the black hearted city council that would not let them enjoy the spacious and scenic accommodations of a WalMart parking lot. Letters flooded into the paper filled with outrage at the shortsighted city council. How could they let all of these valuable tourist dollars escape our grasp. Well, city council did what any responsible political entity would do, they immediately reversed their decision.
What makes this interesting to me is the time, effort and emotion devoted to this issue. It is similiar to the furor created when the Hockey Fights were coming to town. One would have thought that the Prime Minister was visiting for all of the media attention and public opinion it generated. What is sad is that our town, like many, has other issues that people should get involved with and deserve the public's involvement. Growing drug use and meth addiction among our children, teenage prostitution, expanding slums, increased homeless population and the list goes on. However, sadly many of these issues get much less attention or ever generate the public interest and involvement that the can apparently be generated by telling a tourist driving a $100,000 RV that he will have to pay $15 for a campsite can. The good news is that if we can just get city council to pick up the tab for a few tents maybe our homeless can stay at WalMart.
