City of Burleson is not shutting down Burleson Tea Party

by PegNews wire

The City of Burleson received a request to close a portion of the State Highway 174 frontage road between McNairn Road and Suzanne Terrace to hold a rally entitled the “Burleson Tea Party” on Wednesday, April 15.

The City’s Special Events Committee (which consists of representatives of the City’s fire, police, public works, and emergency management departments) reviews requests for street closures to determine the impact on public safety, health and welfare. That committee met on Thursday (April 2) to review the request from the group hosting the Burleson Tea Party.

The committee expressed its safety concerns to representatives of the Tea Party group. Principally, the City’s concerns are public safety vehicle access to the adjacent residential neighborhood and the impact on safe traffic movement on State Highway 174 which runs adjacent to the area where the Tea Party is requested to take place.

The City did not attempt to stop the event or prevent the event from being held in the city.

Today, the City has placed calls to representatives of the Tea Party in hopes of resolving the City’s concerns and identifying a location for the Tea Party to occur. As of the time this press release is being issued, the City has not yet received a return call from the Tea Party group.

The event can be hosted in Burleson’s Downtown Historic District adjacent to Burleson City Hall. This area is where the City’s festivals and events are commonly hosted.

Alternatively, the event could be hosted at the location requested by the group provided the group is willing to address the City’s safety concerns and ensure fire and police response to the residential area adjacent to the location.

The City of Burleson respects, honors, upholds and defends the Constitutional rights of all citizens, particularly the right to peaceably assemble. The City’s only interest is to facilitate the exercise of these rights in a manner which provides for the safety of both the participants and the public.

Source: Burleson