This is our town. How is yours?

St. Petersburg, Florida is becoming a focal point regarding free speech and public spaces. As more and more people are taking to the streets, the city government is hindering the efforts of war-protesters (for the benefit of the Sembler Company, a shopping-center corporation) by using barricades to disrupt anti-war protests and to arrest citizens who step around the barricades. The first amendment guarantees Americans the right to peacably assemble in order to petition our government (which begins with All Other Americans, in our "Government Of the People {Abraham Lincoln}") for redress of grievances. It also specifically prohibits government from reducing (abridging) our freedom of speech. Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism".

More info on the protest-restriction events in St. Petersburg HERE.

If the St. Petersburg Police are honestly concerned about pedestrian safety in this issue, then maybe they should consider closing Second Ave. N. on the block south of Baywalk between First street and Second street to automobile traffic on Saturday nights. A band or two in the street would actually bolster the business being done in the Baywalk too. There are those who consider the protesters an attraction and point of interest, if only for the Americanistic "authenticity" they lend the place. Many tourists from Europe and elsewhere visit the area as well.

Across the country, more and more people are realizing that it's up to YOU to tell your neighbor of the danger we're in. No one else is going to do it for you. Go make a sign.

What's happening in YOUR town?