Alissa bought me a Halloween ticket in the event that we end up going. The back of the ticket is nice example of legal-double talk.
The Halloween event on State Street is not sponsored by the City of Madison or any other entity. No permit has been issued for this event. An admission fee is charged soley for the purpose of paying for some of the public safety costs generated by the spontaneous occurrence of this event. The City of Madison cannot gaurantee your safety at this event. You enter the event at your own risk and are responsible for your own safety.
There are several things here that just seem weird. The first – how can you charge a ticket price for a spontaneous event? Shouldn’t spontaneity prevent the ability to know that even is going to occur? Second, if the purpose of the ticket is supplement public safety cost – why can’t the City Guarantee a reasonable level of safety protection? Third, how in the world can you charge an admission fee for an event that doesn’t have a permit? Wouldn’t the gathering simply be illegal? I mean – how can the City charge for the event when it hasn’t issued a permit to anyone for that space? My understanding is that until a permit is issued for a public street, that place remains public property.
I just don’t get it. But it’s funny.
