I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream. The organizers of the famous Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert have been faced with a bizarre demand from U.S. land managers that the counterculture event supply special lodging, ice cream and other amenities to their staff working at the event. This includes 24-hour access to Chobani Greek Yogurt and a standalone freezer with Drumstick and Choco Taco ice cream for members of the United States Bureau of Land Management. The federal agencies have been steadily tacking on costs on the events and increasing the fees from $1 million in 2011 to an anticipated $5 million this year. The special compound for federal employees have been estimated to cost as much as $1 million.
Members of Congress have complained in letters that the demands are excessive and self-serving. Burning Man is now a major attraction for state businesses, bringing 70,000 people to the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada — with an estimated $35 million to the local economy each year.
The Bureau also demanded a so-called Blue Pit lodging facility that would have restroom trailers with flushable toilets, a washer and dryer room for laundry, and what have been called VIP accommodations in so-called “container apartment” units.
U.S. Representative Mark Amodei, a Republican representing the district, called the demands “the Black Rock Desert version of the Four Seasons hotel.” The Bureau has not responded.
Paul C
Of course the strange and ludicrous demands of certain performers come to mind. Bed linens, in hotels, which must have a certain thread count, towels which must be pure white, not off-white, x amount of bottles of Evian, at room temperature, etc. The bottom line is that these entitled performers get away with these demands because the benefits of having them perform outweigh the cost or burden of granting these accommodations.
Compare those demands to the reasonable demands being espoused here. Facilities to wash and dry clothing, offered to workers, who may be stranded there for a week or more in the grueling heat. Something cold and refreshing for those who will, undoubtedly, spend hours working under the scorching sun. Toilets that actually flush.
My oh my, what spoiled brats!
@pinandpuller
I know! That is why I would be scairt, because at a place like that, being 2 out of 3 would probably do.
🙄
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
We have a fireworks display in Wisconsin that attracts over 100,000 people. The organizers have volunteers clean up afterward and the place is spotless the next day. It just takes a good organization.
DBQ, Great story and deserving the bold letters. If you want to know how tired people are of entitled govt. employees you need look not further than Scott Walker. He is not a great politician by any means. But, he seized an opportunity to put govt. employees in their place and he’s become a national politician overnight. All of the union money POURED into this state during the recall. Union rats from all over the country POURED into this state for the recall. The result? Walker got 200,000 MORE votes than he did in the regular election. But, they still don’t get it. Some govt. lover will chime in here now about how “evil” he is and “Koch BROTHERS” You know, the same stale horseshit that got Walker 200,000 more votes. They just don’t get it.
Apologies to Dusty. She gets it.
Although the crap about government thumb is just that – crap.
Think hard before kicking the Feds out of Burning Man. Real hard.
More than 51,000 attend for a week. The event lasts for more than a week as it takes days to set up and days to clean up.
You think those 51,000 people who would be happy to see the Feds go are gonna clean up, really clean up, after themselves?
And do you think all those 51,000 are all Sunday School teachers who never get rowdy, or drunk, or annoy one another at a weeklong event?
You think the local police department is anxious to take on the cost of that?
Think hard.
Give me a bloody break!
Those who fight wildfires are heroes.
The FEDS pay the bulk of the costs.
Quit your bitchin’ at the BLM.
Bloody ‘takers’.
I would be scairt to go to any festival based on samhain, and wicker man stuff. Because who knows when they might want to sacrifice a pretty, young virgin???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Re pretty, young virgins @Burning Man
Between the mormons and the cathouses you would be hard pressed to meet that criteria.
@ pinandpuller
Trash and other “wastes” human and animal ARE a big big problem for the Rainbow People. I do not condone leaving trash in the wilderness OR anywhere for that matter. I believe in the idea that you leave the place the way you found it or even better. I know the local people have been irritated by the festival
What was once a free spirited and not all that big festival has really gotten large and out of control. So if it is on BLM land, which is practically all of Nevada, then I suppose the BLM workers are needed to supervise and keep things (and people) in order. I don’t mind that they want ice cream and toilets. I would too. Of course, I wouldn’t go to the festival….IMO it is stupid to be around that many idiots.
The problem that I have is that there IS nowhere to go that isn’t under the thumb of the government.
Karen S
Again, everything is relative. How long does this festival last? What is the average temp during the day? Are workers precluded, because of its location from going to their respective homes? If you wish to conduct research, on your own or with a few people in the desert, I can understand the necessity to rough-it and not have all of the luxuries normally available to most of us. That’s a conscious decision that you, along with others, make. In this case, where 70,000 visitors are expected and 35 million is being pumped into the local economy, you are upset that these workers want toilets that flush and ice cream to cool their palates? Not me. Given the enormity of this event and the money that it generates, who would view these requests as excessive? Please note that I’m a big believer in rooting out waste and theft, but the demands of these workers are far from excessive. If these workers must patrol the desert, assisting and aiding visitors in the brutal heat, I want them as comfortable and hydrated as possible. If an ice cream taco, a toilet and a washing machine accomplishes that, so be it.
Here is a map to illustrate just how much stranglehold the Federal Government has on the economy of the western states.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/03/23/us/western-land-owned-by-the-federal-government.html?_r=0
Check out how LITTLE non government land is in some of the Western States. What gives the Feds the right to own an entire sovereign State?
@ pinandpuller
Is there no NV state land available?
NOPE. Not much.
The Federal Government owns and controls 86% of the State of Nevada
http://www.npri.org/publications/the-federal-land-stranglehold-2
The federal government owns or controls 86 percent of the land in Nevada and even more — 89 percent — in Clark County. The tight federal grip on this land is causing economic harm — and, in many cases, genuine hardship — to local developers, workers, renters and would-be homeowners.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) refuses to release more than a token amount of land each year for construction of homes, schools, parks and businesses. This artificial, government-induced scarcity of buildable land — in an area surrounded by mile after mile of wide-open spaces — has triggered massive increases in the price of remaining privately owned land, to the point where the average family can no longer afford the mortgage payments for a median-priced home.
It is no wonder that the people who live in the Western States and whose ancestor settled the area are royally p&ssed at and sick of the Federal Government’s high handed appropriation of rights to water and other rights to use the “so called” Public lands.
I remember in years past the Rainbow Family (I think) had big conflicts with the BLM in WY or MT. Mostly that had to do with dirty hippies leaving trash everywhere.
I wonder when the BLM started studying Frank Sinatra riders?
pinandpuller – Smoking Gun is kind enough to periodically publish the noteworthy riders for band contracts.
I don’t know if anyone here know the reason behind the Van Halen brown M&M’s clause in their rider but its actually quite brilliant.
A rock show could involve a lot of pyro, risers and dangerous situations so the rider would stipulate safety precautions to be taken during setup. If Van Halen rolled into their dressing room and saw brown M&M’s in the tray it would immediately alert them that someone could have skimmed over the really important clauses in the rider.
I’m willing to bet that the Burning Man participants and organizers would prefer not to have the BLM employees lording over them in any way, shape or form at all. Knowing many people who do go to this event, they are decidedly not interested in being managed by government. To them, the charm of the event is the free form, rustic, adventure. Not the availability of ice cream
If Cliven Bundy would host Burning Man he could catch up on his grazing fees and give another middle finger to the BLM.
Is there no NV state land available?
This is also why I want to hand politicians in general and Liberals in particular a calculator.
Burning Man pumps $35 million annually into the local economy. If they keep raising the cost, or making unreasonable demands, then the organizers will eventually feel it’s not worth it, and end the event. Then they will end up with no revenue and no ice cream.
What if you’re lactose intolerant? Are they required to provide dairy free frozen deserts? Gluten free? Can we request certain flavors?
bam bam – “Air conditioning, ice cream, yogurt, laundry facilities, etc., for employees working in the oven-hot desert are not unreasonable requests.”
Yes, those are unreasonable requests. I’ve done research projects in the desert where we slept on the ground and picked cholla cactus spines out of a few unlucky ones. I didn’t demand any ice cream. I know someone who’s job used to be to pack around national parks on horseback and advise hikers and hunters on how to keep safe from grizzly bears. He’d be gone weeks at a time with no laundry facilities or frozen yoghurt. I’ve cooked lunch in a can over a fire in the jungle, purified water to drink, and scrubbed dishes with sand and washed them in a stream in piranha habitat. I have a relative who’s an ecologist, and he would devise a showering system using a black garbage bag. I can guarantee you he did not demand ice cream in every hot climate where he traveled for work. I used to teach riding lessons in the blazing sun, and show in a wool hunt coat. All without ice cream or air conditioning.
This is the self absorbed demand of an emperor. These kinds of normal deprivations can be shocking to people used to working in an office, but a great many jobs lack many amenities.
DBQ – great story. God bless the firefighters. It’s going to be another rough fire season this year.
This is one of the reasons why there are calls for reform for the BLM, and why it is NOT contrary to conservation to demand those reforms. There are similar abuses in the EPA, but any calls for reform or restructuring are met with the usual cries that critics don’t care about the environment.
Richard
How long does the festival last? The duration of the festival and its location will determine the appropriateness of the demands. Air conditioning, ice cream, yogurt, laundry facilities, etc., for employees working in the oven-hot desert are not unreasonable requests. I don’t view these demands as wasteful or outrageously indulgent. Massive waste occurs throughout all levels of government. Those wanting to eliminate that waste should search elsewhere and not go after Chobani yogurt or ice cream tacos offered to those working in the blazing sun.
bam bam – it actually sounds like a rider on on concert contract. Each dressing room shall have 5 bags of mixed M&Ms in a bowl. All green M&Ms will have been removed.
This is how a ruling government class behaves.