Homecoming & Double Standards

I live in a small town that thinks small.  It’ll never be big for so many different reasons.

The small town that I live in bends over backwards for the university that’s based here.  They do this for students that will come here for 8 months of the year, 3 or 4 years in a row, and then leave.

They are essentially migrants.

The small city tries to keep the kids in the small town, but the kids know better.  They want big city living and big city amenities.  Simple things like green bins, a thriving downtown, street cars or subways and a music hall or two that fit more than 500 people or that’s not a church.

The city regularly does what it can to accommodate these temporary residents.

A perfect example is the ‘Homecoming’ that brings in thousands of alumni, but also opens up opportunities to have outrageous parties for about a week or so.

Hey … I was a student once too.  I know what it’s like to want to let off some steam.  In fact, I’m thankful that I didn’t grow up in the Facebook era.  I would have been a routine embarrassment to everyone that’s on my ‘Friends’ list.

But here’s what bugs me about this situation: the double standard.  I work in the alcohol business and according to the many, many, many rules related to alcohol, I have to get insurance, hire police or security from my own pocket, have contained areas, get a Special Occasion Permit (SOP) where I have the ‘privilege’ of paying an additional 16% on an already excessively series of taxes on alcohol, inform my neighbours and many other details if I want to have a gathering of 100 or so people.

So when I hear that our small little town will look the other way when 10,000 or more students will congregate just a few blocks from where I’m trying to raise my family, I get furious.

The double standard of looking the other way for students has to end.  Our cities are not their property.  They pay tuition and a few other expenses and that’s about it.  They don’t have a right to different rules and they certainly don’t have a right to destroy property or disregard the livelihood of those around them.

Yeah, I sound like a grumpy old man, but only because I follow the rules and I would expect our small little town to do the same for them.  As long as they look the other way, this city will always be small.