Burning Man festival

Burning Man dispute can be solved

The annual Burning Man festival, held in the Black Rock Desert over Labor Day weekend, has been a success far exceeding anyone’s expectations, financially if not always artistically.
Not only are the organizers doing well, however. So are businesses in Reno-Sparks and the small communities of Northern Nevada that festival-goers pass through to get to the remote site. Burning Man attracts people from all over the world to the Black Rock Desert, and they all have to stock up before heading out to the festival.
It has become, quite simply, one of the biggest boosts for the economy of this area that we’ve seen in a long, long time.
So, it is critical that we don’t take any actions that might kill this proverbial golden goose.
That, unfortunately, is what Pershing County mmight have done, according to Burning Man organizers,
by adopting a new ordinance that would double the fees charged to the festival, fees that could surpass $1 million in the coming years, they say.
It’s well understood that not everyone appreciates Burning Man. There’s no question that some of the behavior in the desert would get participants arrested if tried in Idlewild Park in Reno. It’s also well known that there is illegal activity during the festival that raises the hackles of law enforcement.
No amount of law enforcement is going to turn Burning Man into a Boy Scout Jamboree, however, and it’s not the job of Pershing or any other county in Nevada to try to control what happens on public land far away from the county seat in Lovelock. It can’t be done, nor should it.
Any fees charged the festival should have a firm grounding in the actual costs to the county created by Burning Man, not to boost the county’s general fund and not to recast the event to meet county officials’ personal standards.
Last week, Burning Man officials filed suit to overturn the new fees. This is a dispute that can and should be worked out to benefit both festival and county, however, if both sides are willing. Let’s not kill a successful event.

Source : http://www.rgj.com/article/20120819/OPED01/308190023/Editorial-Burning-Man-dispute-can-solved