The City of Omaha has continued a pervasive campaign of privatization enacted against our public park systems. This privatization has consequences such as the moderation of public discussion under the control of the park owners and strict curfews which punish minorities and the unhoused.

This started with the Gene Leahy Mall, but it affects many of our parks such as Turner Park as well, and it will only continue as the city continues to privatize our parks year by year. This is an issue on the side of both parties. Jean Stothert, a Republican, and John Ewing, Jr., a Democrat, have both passed deals for privatizing public parks in their times in office. Tell your councilmember not only are you not okay with the auctioning off of Miller Park, but of any park in this city, and that public property should be just that, public. We must defend the commons in our city!

Tell your councilmember and the mayor that we want to keep our parks public! The town square should never be owned by corporations or an individual. They should be owned by all of us, our taxpayer dollars funded these things and we should keep them!