So, my sister, nephew and I were taking it easy on the grass in the public gardens the other day when low and behold, some dude drives up right next to us, over the grass on a four-wheeler and tells us that we’re not allowed to be sitting on the grass! What the fuck?!!! I mean, maybe some folks are happy sitting on the pavement and rubbing their feet on the nice hard asphalt, but I don’t think we were doing nearly as much damage as the treacherous treads of those terrible tires! Another similar situation, we decided to meander over to Citadel Hill yesterday and were kicked off the grass again by a security guard with weird gloves, nice eyes and “no opinion when on the job.” The reason? Because we just so happened to be enjoying the music that could be heard coming from the Summersonic festival. When I asked about the hill being public property, he replied “not this week-end. The promoters of the show rented the whole hill.” Hmmm….Maybe instead of spending a shitload of money on security, they should invest in more fencing, which would prevent these problems from happening! If anyone knows of a place where you can sit on the grass without getting chased off, keep it to yourself, since you probably won’t be able to for much longer.
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2008.
Sounds annoying. I agree that the way to chase people off the lawns in the public gardens is NOT to drive over to them on an ATV, but I am not against the “keep off the grass” rule. There is an abundance of paths and benches to avoid people having to walk or sit on the grass. Your unfortunate incident on the hill is just the exception rather than the rule since you usually can enjoy the grass there. If you wanted to sit on grass, the common is always available, just watch for the dog doo.