The Time Has Come

[Ben Macri]

BMORG needs to have some foresight and put the 2016 event on hold this year to organize and host the 2017 event in a Burning Man friendly location. The event is being constantly bled of resources by those seeing us as a cash cow. We need to have more control over the vultures who hover over us, either law enforcement, or politicians who see us as a means to line their pockets. This has been an undercurrent concern over the entire history of the event. What is being done to work around this drain on our creativity?

All the money that has gone to pay off those who barely tolerate us, except for our cash, can go to purchasing a permanent land base or at least finding a more friendly host...Native Americans? All the money that has gone to "renting" the Playa could have been put toward a home of our own, private property, that can't be invaded by blood suckers. It's time for the Burning Man organization to stop thinking on a year to year basis and plan long term. This is the Achilles Heel that those around us use to exploit us, making our infrastructure a huge money sieve.

Question? Can law enforcement come on our private land to harass us without probable cause? How much money can be saved by having some semblance of infrastructure in place each year? How much investment of money can be used annually to further our artistic cause instead of paying lawyer's fees and political taxation designed to tap into our resources?

Lastly, is the function of Burning Man to prop up the existence of Gerlach, as much as we love the town, or line the pockets of BMORG as our ticket prices climb?
A wise planner will stop the hemorrhaging. What's the plan?! What new "emergency" will be concocted to block our path, only to be cleared by greater cash payoffs?

Stop the burn, think ahead, and build a functional, sustainable event future...hmmm? Add this to the "Principles."

[AntiM]

Yes, they can come to private land. Actually less protections than on fed land, and varies by state.

[Ratty]

Whoa. Hold on there cowboy. I don't want to attend an event of 70,000 enthusiastic vacationers and NO LEOS.

[lucky420]

I know that the tribal lands around here (Pyramid Lake) prohibit nudity.

[ygmir]

there are many, and pretty good reasons, BMORG does not want to own the land, as well as wanting to use federal land.

[Elliot]

Welcome to ePlaya, Ben!
Interesting rant. With such a blustery opening salvo, I expect you have a pretty complete plan in the hopper? With all kinds of numbers? Facts? Judicial precedence for suspending Federal, State, County, and other law in a location of our choice?

I mean... as a Burner since 1997, you are well familiar with the concept of "do-ocracy", right? I can set aside a few days to read your wonderfully comprehensive proposal.

[Captain Goddammit]

This gets brought up every year and has been discussed to death.
You're overlooking a lot of stuff, naive about some stuff, and just plain wrong about a lot of stuff.

It seems like a great idea until you look into the realities.
And Indian land? You claim to have been a burner since '97, you should know about that.

[some seeing eye]

Personally I think things are better than they have ever been. The BORG has a structure that allows it more flexibility, a good relationship with the BLM, continues to make good business decisions on contractors, is developing better relationships with funders, and I think is making good progress in dealing with PnP, ingress and exodus, vehicle permits and group transport is far improved. They are communicating better and sooner. They still need to get LEO back on track.

The event needs at least an about 5 mile by 6 mile spot with the airport, maybe bigger as the population expands. That's almost 20,000 acres. So if you know of a spot, let the BORG know!

[ranger magnum]

Stop the burn?

I've got one word for you.

Fuck off.

[Captain Goddammit]

well that's two words

[Elderberry]

Moving this to the Philosophical Center, seems to be a better fit than tickets.

[vargaso]

BMORG needs to have some foresight and put the 2016 event on hold this year to organize and host the 2017 event in a Burning Man friendly location. The event is being constantly bled of resources by those seeing us as a cash cow. We need to have more control over the vultures who hover over us, either law enforcement, or politicians who see us as a means to line their pockets. This has been an undercurrent concern over the entire history of the event. What is being done to work around this drain on our creativity?

All the money that has gone to pay off those who barely tolerate us, except for our cash, can go to purchasing a permanent land base or at least finding a more friendly host...Native Americans? All the money that has gone to "renting" the Playa could have been put toward a home of our own, private property, that can't be invaded by blood suckers. It's time for the Burning Man organization to stop thinking on a year to year basis and plan long term. This is the Achilles Heel that those around us use to exploit us, making our infrastructure a huge money sieve.

Question? Can law enforcement come on our private land to harass us without probable cause? How much money can be saved by having some semblance of infrastructure in place each year? How much investment of money can be used annually to further our artistic cause instead of paying lawyer's fees and political taxation designed to tap into our resources?

Lastly, is the function of Burning Man to prop up the existence of Gerlach, as much as we love the town, or line the pockets of BMORG as our ticket prices climb?
A wise planner will stop the hemorrhaging. What's the plan?! What new "emergency" will be concocted to block our path, only to be cleared by greater cash payoffs?

Stop the burn, think ahead, and build a functional, sustainable event future...hmmm? Add this to the "Principles."

Oh good, someone finally figured it all out.

[trilobyte]

New user, single inflammatory post with no other participation... I know all signs point to troll, but I'll give him/her the benefit of the doubt and weigh in with my personal opinion.

I disagree, and personally think that would be a foolish idea for a couple reasons. First, it's absolutely possible to plan and prepare for the Burning Man event while investigating and exploring alternative venues/options. The idea of doing this might be new to the OP, but Burning Man has actually been looking at and considering other options for more than a decade. Public land, private land, elsewhere in the state, or in other states completely... I know it's all been on the table, I've had numerous conversations with staffers and founders on the subject over the years... it's very safe to say that they think more about the future of Burning Man than most of us. The second reason is it would financially decimate the organization. Burning Man doesn't have many years' worth of staff salaries and operating costs sitting in a bank someplace, plus many of the various supply and service contracts (porta-potties, equipment rentals, etc) are negotiated for multiple years at a time. Breaking those contracts would likely carry a massive cost, and even if there weren't penalties losing the savings from multi-year economy-of-scale agreements would result in significantly higher costs on many of the things that go into Burning Man. This in turn would translate into a dramatic rise in ticket price. The biggest hit, though, would be with their own staff. Not having the event means no meaningful revenue, and no ability to pay staff. Most people I know who work for Burning Man are already generally pretty seriously underpaid for the work they do and the time they put in (it's a labor of love for them), that kind of disruption would either require several years' worth of soaking participants beforehand (to build up the dough to pay salaries during a gap year), or just losing the vast majority of staff (there goes the whole idea of spending the year focusing only on finding another option).

While the OP is absolutely welcome (if not encouraged) to take the year off, I think Burning Man should continue to work at building momentum, and moving the event and the culture forward. Tickets are already in pretty high demand, taking the year off when you're not feeling it or you feel the political/regulatory climate isn't right for you not only means you don't have to do something you feel conflicted about but it means others will get a chance to experience the event.