DENIED: No Growth, and Drug Screenings [UPDATE]

The cozy relationship the extreme Far Left Progressives of San Francisco’s Burning Man Organization enjoyed with the Federal Government under Obama doesn’t seem to be playing out quite the same way under President Trump.

Last year saw massive amounts of Burner cars being pulled over on the Paiute Indian Reservation and searched for drugs, as part of the President’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. See Indians Promised They Will Shut Down the Roads – and They Delivered.

This year we had threats of a concrete wall being built to concentrate the Burners, the horrific idea of trash dumpsters at the exit gates, and private mercenary armies conducting drug searches – while on the other hand, Burning Man asked for a population increase from 80,000 to 100,000. See BMorg Outraged at $10m Bill For $42m New Revenues.

No extra $40 million for you! The growth has been denied, but the private security doing drug searches is still on the table – maybe for this year, maybe 2020.

From the Reno Gazette-Journal:

Burning Man won’t be growing this year, but there could be at least one major change upon entry: drug screenings

The Bureau of Land Management on Friday issued the final environmental impact statement for Burning Man, denying the Burning Man organization its sought-after growth to 100,000 people but granting it more time to address a number of environmental and security concerns.

The federal agency may, however, hire a private security firm this year to conduct drug screenings. Or, it might wait until 2020, according to BLM spokesman Rudy Evenson. 

As for the growth of the event, the population cap will remain at 80,000 people … 

“The BLM and cooperating agencies could not support the event growing. The city of Reno, Nevada Department of Transportation, Nevada Highway Patrol as well as the Bureau of Land Management could not support the growth particularly because there are other events going on during Labor Day,” said Evenson.

One third of BLM law enforcement officers nationwide are required to patrol the event at the current size, but one half would be required if it grew to 100,000. Transportation agencies also want to find ways to alleviate the congestion on area roads before the BLM allows any growth of the event, Evenson said… 

In an effort to make the event safer and more secure, the BLM plans to hire a private security firm to “screen” Burners for drugs and weapons prior to entering the event, according to the report. 

In public meetings, Burners called the suggested drug searches unconstitutional.

Read the full story at the Reno Gazette-Journal

Is Trump going to build a wall at Burning Man?

Well…sort of.

No statement yet at the BJ, but some more detail was posted in the comments to this post:

Alternative D has been selected:
The event will occur with no population growth during the ten year period. This means that a total of 80,000 people will be allowed onsite until at least 2028.

In the final EIS the BLM has updated many facets of the mitigations. Listed below are some of the most contentious ones.

NAT-2 Dumpsters: This mitigation has been completely removed from the EIS. Yay.

PHS-1 Private Security at Gate: They are still requiring private security. However the contracting will be done through the BLM, not BRC. This security force will report “banned or illegal contraband” directly to law enforcement. Federal agency contracting out private security to conduct their unconstitutional searches.

PHS-3 The Wall Around BRC: The requirement has been shortened. It now just reads, “BRC will be required to implement physical perimeter barriers and controls to reduce the risk of unauthorized entry to the Event.”

PHS-4 Building Inspections: This one was loosened up a bit, fortunately. Now structures over 10 feet must only be inspected if they are for lodging and aren’t tents, RV’s, or motorhomes. Also, the inspection will be done by BRC staff, not “Nevada-certified building inspectors.”

VIS-1 Lighting: They’re letting us point our lights towards the sky. However, the BLM is going to monitor us to make sure we don’t spew too many photons.

Look for updates to this post as the story unfolds.


[Update June 15 2019 11:30am]

Volume 1 of the Environmental Impact Statement

Volume 2

Reddit thread

Some are saying that High Rock Security will be doing the drug searches.

Seems like some lucrative private security contracts will be going the way of long-time BMorg personnel

Private searches offer an interesting loophole for the government to get around the Fourth Amendment, as discussed in this 2017 Yale Law journal article:

Under the private search doctrine, once a private party has conducted an initial search independent of the government, the government may repeat that search, even if doing so would otherwise violate the Fourth Amendment. The private party’s search renders the subsequent government “search” not a search in the constitutional sense.


Currently Burning Man has a peak ticketed population of 70,000 and is allowed 10,000 staff and volunteers. They have missed out on 300,000 tickets over the next ten years, which is potentially more than half a billion dollars. I predict VIP ticket prices will increase above $2000 before the end of this period – in the past I have predicted that for 2020. We’re getting very close already: with vehicle pass, handling fees and taxes, this year’s VIP ticket is $1703.50.

BMorg Outraged at $10m Bill for $42m New Revenues

The government wants to build a 10-mile fence to keep the Burners in a pentagon-shaped concentration camp.

The Burning Man Project wants to increase the capacity of Black Rock City to 100,000 people.

Locals object because of the trash and damage to roads and property (see Leave No Trace Has Become “Hide the Evidence”).

The BLM and local cops want more resources to handle a large population.

BMorg says the BLM’s demands would cost $10 million, and lead to “substantial” increases in ticket prices – which are already more than substantial for an event where the punters have to bring all the entertainment and facilities themselves.

The 10-year Permit for the event is at stake. This is needed for the largest event on Federal land to continue.

SFGate has a great article on it here

Among the contested changes suggested by BLM in the draft report, according to the Burning Man website, were:

— Federal oversight over certain parts of Burning Man‘s operations

10 miles of either plastic or cement barriers around the perimeter fence

Dumpsters within the city and along Gate Road for the 80,000 participants

— BLM-approved private security funded by Burning Man who would be screening for weapons and drugs for anyone entering Black Rock City.

One suggestion, labelled as “brazen” in the Burning Man staff statement, was that the group would pay for the maintenance of County Road 34, which takes participants to the entrance…

Further complicating matters is the fact that organizers are seeking a 10-year permit with BLM to continue to hold the event at Black Rock Desert, which has been “home” to Burners for 27 years. The environmental impact statement was done in part to look at the potential outcome if the event grows to hold up to 100,000 people, versus its current attendee numbers of 70,000, or not holding the event at all.

The field manager for the Bureau of Land Management’s Black Rock Field Office said its suggestions are “attempts at trying to solve problems” in comments to the Gazette-Journal, emphasizing that the report is not yet finalized

Source: SFGate

You can also read all about it in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

BMorg’s response is, predictably, to raise ticket prices. No matter that they are able to sell another 30,000 more tickets. At current VIP Price of $1400, that is an extra $42,000,000 revenue per year – plus handling fees, vehicle passes, and all that jazz.

Initial cost estimates for BLM’s recommended stipulations are nearly $10 million per year and would raise ticket prices substantially. Importantly, BLM would benefit financially from these increased expenses through their existing requirements to take a percentage of a permit holder’s gross revenue.

They couldn’t just keep ticket prices the same, and bank the extra $32 mil?

All the public documents are available from the Bureau of Land Management.

Burning_Man_Event_SRP-Draft_EIS_Vol1

Burning_Man_Event_SRP-Draft_EIS_Vol2

New Permit Allows For More Tickets To Be Released

WeHavePermit_Cartoon

It looks like BMOrg gains an extra $420,000 in ticket sales, instead of having to pay that much extra in to the BLM in the increase to the Infrastructure part of their budget.

A huge thanks to A Balanced Perspective for this guest post.

 


 

I penned a few notes in regards towards the Burning Man 2015 Special Recreation Permit Stipulations signed on Friday night 7 August.

Burning Man Event Gates Open

“7. Gates are permitted to open at 10:00 AM on Sunday, August 30,” and no fun is permitted prior to 6:00 PM participants are required to focus their activities on camp location setup prior to 6:00 PM on Sunday, August 30. The fun event shall end at 6:00 PM on Monday, September 7, and for the purposes of participant egress the main gate will be opened until 12:00 PM on Tuesday, September 8.

Population and Tickets

“1. The maximum authorized population (also referred to as the “population cap”) at any point in time during the 2015 event is 70,000 paid participants. The population cap does not include volunteers, government personnel, emergency service providers, vendors, and contractors.” This is of the meaning of the BMOrg is permitted to sell over 1,000 tickets more than the priorly stated 69,000 tickets, of which, the tickets sold for $30.5 million.

The BMorg social media crew, in a most unofficial manner, states a manner to obtain tickets is to construct an art project, or labour upon an art project. Thusly, might a Burner be doing so, converse with your art project lead, and with the Artery, purposed to buy a ticket. In the same manner, might a contributing theme camp, or a mutant vehicle crew, or a donor of cash towards the Burning Man Project, be of the need of a small number of tickets, converse with the BMOrg, purposed to buy the needed tickets.

Missing from the 2015 Permit

Missing from the 2015 permit is requirements upon the medical of that BRC LLC, dba Burning Man, must pay for ambulances to transport Burners to hospitals in Reno. My belief is this is a most important item purposed for the safety of Burners.

In addendum, missing from the 2015 permit, is any mention in regards of what the BRC LLC is required to provide towards the BLM, and towards the BLM police, in regards of constructing their huge police compound, of providing their cafeteria, their housing, and of their other luxuries. In addendum, missing from the 2015 permit is any mention in regards of the BLM is required to provide towards the BRC LLC of a statement of costs for the Cost Recovery Fee, or of the amount of cash to be paid in due of the cost recovery fee. Their is no rationale of the BLM, and of their police, desire a cafeteria separate from the BMOrg staff cafeteria, other of the BLM, and their police, do not desire to associate with the enemy unwashed Burners.

The Police State

In regards of the police state, my belief is the BLM, and their police, desire control of BRC, and of ‘compliant participants’, and desire of the ability of cancellation or of temporary suspension of the event. Their rubbish rationales of this might be a forecast of rain, wind, or the most important concern of the prior Pershing County Sheriff, whom desired to bring 12 riot control horses to the playa, social unrest.

“27. BRC and BLM, and other agencies as shall be mutually deemed appropriate, shall cooperate in the development of a Unified Command (UC) structure … for the management of available safety, security and infrastructure resources in the event of an emergency incident … as well as in the event of an emergency threshold event as defined in the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). … All UC operations will be managed from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located at the BLM Headquarters…”

“31. BRC shall develop and cooperate in the implementation of contingency plans for operations of critical health and safety services under adverse conditions, including those that could cause cancellation or temporary suspension of the event. Such causes may include adverse weather, natural or human caused disaster, or social unrest.” In addendum of “ii. BRC and the BLM will monitor forecast weather conditions. If weather forecasts suggest a high probability of adverse weather conditions that may result in disruptions to the event, … In the event of natural disaster or civil unrest appropriate strategies and actions will be initiated immediately after any disaster or unrest occurs”

In addendum in regards of the police state, the Closure Order for the playa, states Disorderly Conduct is illegal, and it is a crime with levies and, perchance, jail time. I was of the belief the purpose of Burning Man being in the most horrible desert was Disorderly Conduct.

Other Stipulations

In regards of other stipulations, “44. No more than 1,000 vehicles per hour shall be released from Black Rock City during the exodus “. A new item, it was desired, by the BLM, within their rubbish 20 points, “23. … Participants who are stopped by BRC Rangers for violating established burn perimeters shall be promptly turned over to BLM Law Enforcement“. “54. Event speed limits shall be posted on both Gate Road and the 12-Mile/Point 1 Road. … Will-call area shall have an organized layout including signage.” “56. Environmental Compliance Team”, the BLM desires to send wankers valued employees, and VIPs, to the playa to have a paid vacation and stare at tits monitor environmental compliance.

In addendum, the BLM is requiring of rubbish new costs, upon the BRC LLC, of “35. BRC shall station a specialized emergency firefighting vehicle at the airport during all times that the airport is open. BRC shall provide modern industry-standard technical rescue, extrication and high-angle rescue capabilities and equipment throughout pre-during-and post-event”

Burners, what might be your opinions in regards of the 2015 Burning Man Permit Stipulations?