Originally published in the Front Range Voluntaryist, Issue #3, May 2017
By Nick Weber with a contribution from Larry Leiber
Nestled at the foot of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, a small community is under siege. An authoritarian regime has done the unthinkable act of shutting down a dog park. “By shutting this dog park you are ruining our community with authoritarianism.”
“You have created an authoritarian regime in closing this dog park. You have constructed whatever numbers you need to support your decision.”
These are actual quotes overheard at recent county commissioner meetings. They may seem a bit overboard on the surface, but digging deeper into the heart of the matter, they are quite telling. Not so much for all those poor dogs who have nowhere to roam freely and the alleged breakup of the community fabric, but for shedding light on the folly of public (and public-private) ownership.
A quick recap the situation: Citing widespread loss of native vegetation, soil erosion, degradation of the stream channel, poor water quality due to elevated E.Coli levels, lack of compliance from park visitors, and parking related safety concerns along Stagecoach Blvd, Jeffco Open Space has closed the park indefinitely as of April 4, 2017.
The Elk Meadow Off-leash Dog Park near Evergreen, CO encompasses 107 acres and showcases one of the follies of public ownership: when everyone owns it, no one owns it. The “don’t worry, someone else will clean it up” mentality stems from a lack of personal responsibility, namely, cleaning up after your dog and holding others accountable. If the park was a free-market entity, the park owner would have a vested interest in keeping the park clean and maintaining a sustainable and safe environment for the customers. The long-term sustainability and success of the dog park business itself would require continual upkeep and responsible environmental stewardship, the alternative being shuttering the park due to lack of business, resulting in a total loss. Imagine the ensuing lawsuits that would stem from a private company being responsible for increased E.coli levels downstream from its business location, one can predict the faux outrage directed at that greedy corporation. With public ownership, who pays to reclaim the park? Who pays when the park pollutes adjacent properties? Everyone, and no one. Jeffco Open Space has indicated it could take up to three years to reclaim the park. That type of business model only flies when your business is subsidized by the taxpayer.
The popular progressive groupthink of “this park is an essential part of the community fabric, so it needs to stay,” is a common argument from park go-ers. This argument falls apart when we consider the gross negligence that lead to the park closure in the first place. How can it be good for the community if contamination abounds? Additionally, some have claimed mismanagement of the park including a lack of signage about rules and regulations, a lack of parking and limited availability of poopy pickup bags contributed to the closure. Lack of signage and no poopy bags? Treat the park as if it was your own backyard and bring your own bags, no signs needed. The lack of attention of everyday park go-ers to proactively address the problems facing the park is obvious: no one cared until the threat of closure was imminent.
There is an elephant in the room regarding public ownership that extends far beyond the reaches of a simple dog park closure: that is the monopoly of ultimate decision making given to Jeffco Open Space. As Austrian school economist and libertarian philosopher Hans Hermann Hoppe cogently summarized: There is no appeal above and beyond the state and the state is the ultimate arbiter and judge in every case of conflict (The Great Fiction, 2012). The commissioner meetings that are open to the public are nothing more than political theater, giving the illusion of influence and oversight by the people. Jeffco Open Space was founded as a land conservation organization by vote in 1972 to preserve open space though a one-half of one percent sales tax and once enshrined, has never been removed; the authority never questioned. Remember those quotes at the beginning of the article? The ruling has struck a nerve with some folks, but the issue isn’t the dog park itself, it is the fear of the power and authority ceded to Jeffco Open Space.
The public dog park situation writ large is the conundrum of our current political debate. Many are fine with power when it works in their favor and view it as tyrannical when it does not. Perhaps power itself is the true enemy.
