Friends of the Common vs Wanderers

This episode of the Wanderer Grounds is a crossover episode! Last week the Friends of the Commons local advocacy group put a post on their website letting everyone know that they are suing the city over the privatization of the Wanderer’s Grounds. The reason, according to the legal letter linked above, is they believe the Wanderer’s Grounds have been defacto privatized without public consultation, which goes against rules dating as back as far as the Crown grants from the 1700s. Their argument is that since the 1700s, this land has been public, and more recently and specifically, the commitment to make the Wanderer’s Grounds public has been codified in law as recently as the 1990s. So, they argue, this land is supposed to be public. They also argue that this land, even though it is, in theory, public there are a lot of restrictions as to who can actually, practically, use the land. So many restrictions that it is defacto private, and the only beneficiary is the Wanderer’s ownership. This privatization was done without public consultation and extended (in the new lease) without public consultation. This breaks more rules, and so the Friends of the Commons are planning on suing the city to make them follow the rules they are supposed to follow in the Charter and demanding all operations cease on the Grounds. In this crossover episode of The Wanderer Grounds/The Grand Parade, Matt and Martin take a deep dive into the weeds and imagine a future where the Wanderer’s Grounds plays an integral role in forming a community, all the while being a public good in the beating heart of a Wonderful city. Also covered: the game that happened on the weekend.