Through their actions, the key members of SFK!!! prove the anger in their hearts – what kind of person could feel good about such destruction of community artwork?
Some STOP FREE KEENE!!! members believe that threats, violence, and protest will somehow stop the flow of activists to Keene and NH at large. However, all they are accomplishing is attracting more movers and sparking new activism.
Free Keene is about love and peace. “STOP FREE KEENE!!!” is about anger. Peace is the way.
Property taxes are a drag, especially here in the Granite State, where, thanks to the “New Hampshire advantage,” they pretty much pay for every aspect of state and local government and the quality of the services we receive are proportional to the value of our community’s real estate and not an individual’s ability to pay.
So, wouldn’t it be nice to simply wish them away, to click the heels of your ruby red shoes and chant: “There’s no tax on home; there’s no tax on home,” and have it become reality?
We’ll soon find out, thanks to the organizers of the Shire Free Church, otherwise known as the Free Keene activists best-known for their efforts to fill expired parking meters, the subsequent court case stemming from their harassment of city parking enforcement employees, their attempts to bait local and state police by pretending to break local drug and alcohol laws, and their efforts to convince others to mess with the courts and the government.
The leaders of that group have applied for tax-exempt status, claiming their house at 73-75 Leverett St. in Keene, which has for several years served as a base for libertarian Internet broadcasting and their local political operations, is now a parsonage. (more…)
The issue at law is the question of whether the judge’s jury instructions violated the statute that makes the defense of “Jury Nullification” permissible in New Hampshire. See you there!
Rebel Love Show episode 7 was released this week. Bitcoin expert Mattheus von Guttenberg stops by the studio to talk bitcoin in the Manchester area and the conversations goes into our disdain for the police, transhumanism, privacy, and online dating from a liberty perspective. The show is also available to download as a podcast.
The producers of AKPF #1 are pleased to present this special edition family friendly censored edition of the forty-seventh episode of controversial Cheshire television talk series Black Sheep Rising. In this invigorating episode which originally published to the world on 14 May 2014, Conan, James, Garret, and Shaunna discuss wordly affairs as well as the present tribulations facing the restructuring Aqua Keene Parking Force. Also featuring a special official New Hampshire state vodka tasting in the program’s second hour. See the show notes and original uncensored cut of the episode as published to the official page of the Black Sheep Rising.
There is further evidence that parking enforcement is no doubt the most unpopular “service” that is provided by the city of Keene. Another petition, this time with 27 signatures, has been sent from downtown business owners to the city council. In the petition (pg 10-12), the business owners oppose the proposed parking rate and time changes proposed by parking director Gary Lamoureux. Mr. Lamoureux proposed that the meter rates be increased, the violations be increased, and parking hours be extended (9AM – 7PM) to try to resolve the problem of exploding costs (26% increase over the last six years) and slow-growing revenues (3.5% increase over the same last six years) in the parking department.
You may recall that there was an earlier petition by downtown business owners that was sent to the city council. In that petition (pg 9-10), 30 downtown business owners also opposed the rate increases and suggested the city instead seek ways to cut costs instead. I also collected 643 petition signatures, see pg 79-80 (Note: not all the signed pages were in the committee’s packet since I had over 38 pages). I had no problem getting downtown workers and shoppers to oppose the rate increases with the help of a few downtown businesses and some other volunteers. I submitted these signatures to the Finance, Organization, and Personnel Committee last week.
It’s clear to me that the business owners, shoppers, and workers of the Keene downtown don’t want to have pay more for tickets and meters. Instead, I agree with the business owners that a cost reduction plan should be implemented in the parking department to address the projected cost increases for the next six years that are currently estimated to grow by 16% by Mr. Lamoureux. It’ll be interesting to see if the city councilors ignore the business owners, workers, and shoppers and raise the rates anyway.
I will break down the parking budget in a future post and suggest some ways to cut costs in the parking department so rates wouldn’t have to increase.
Keene activist and Free Keene blogger Rich Paul tasks about his life story of activism and it’s consequences, illustrated with scenes of his life work.