WaPo:
Metro threatens Phantom Planter with arrest if he tends his Dupont Circle station flowersQuirky garden artist Henry Docter has been surreptitiously planting flowers in public places on four continents since 1979. His unauthorized beautification efforts have frequently aroused surprise and delight — but never a problem until this month, when he ran afoul of Washington’s Metro transit system.Metro threatened Docter with “arrest, fines and imprisonment” if he dared to weed, water or otherwise tend to more than 1,000 morning glories and other flowers whose seeds he planted in 176 barren flower boxes alongside the top stretch of the north escalators at the Dupont Circle station.
Every good citizen has to ask .. WHY EVEN BOTHER AROUND HERE NOW?
“I’ve never gotten in trouble for planting flowers,” Docter, 52, said last week. “Never has anyone overreacted with such an absence of common sense.”Docter spoke in the first interview in which he openly discussed 34 years of clandestine horticulture. The District resident estimated that he’s planted more than 40,000 flowers in spots ranging from the Israeli Embassy and Navy Memorial in the District to faraway locales, including Argentina, Spain and Cambodia.
The people who CAN rule, order, prohibit, demand, forbid, and compel do so BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Everything not forbidden will be compulsory.
WTF has gone wrong in the nation?
Wow! Someone goes out of their way to help beautify an area and the suits get their ties in a twist.
ReplyDeleteApparently the citizens do not agree with metro on this. Henry Doctor has a petition that is doing very well so far.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2013/06/24/petitioning-to-plant-flowers/
Get a load of THIS:
ReplyDelete...In the end, it comes down to safety. Stessell said Docter "will not be permitted to access the escalator embankment for safety reasons that should be self-evident." Indeed, a 21-year-old man sustained life-threatening injuries last week when he drunkenly fell down the escalator well.
Pffffft.
And note this in the WaPo article:
ReplyDeleteIn addition, Docter has told Metro that he’s willing to use a harness as Metro workers do. He’d sign a liability waiver saying he wouldn’t sue Metro if he’s hurt.
IT's PATHETIC.
ReplyDelete"WE RULE BECAUSE WE CAN."
If Docter had a decree from angels on high in granite that his activity was blessed from the highest authority, they would fins a reason not related directly to his activity to continue to ban it.
This is the nature of authority now.
Epa,
ReplyDeleteThe insanity is moving a the speed of light now. Do you feel that?
Yes.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we are just old cranks.
But I don't think that's it.
We are on the edge of a change.
The fellow is planting the kinds of flowers that prevent topsoil runoff.
ReplyDelete