Or, at least… tried to.
With as many as 20,000 people in attendance, the Atlanta Tea Party on April 15 was one of the largest and most successful Tea Parties in the country. The Atlanta Tea Party on July 4, 2009 had been expected to be just as large. Unfortunately, plans have changed. Simon Property Group has forced the cancellation of the Atlanta Tea Party.
The Atlanta Tea Party was forced to cancel its Independence Day celebration in Gwinnett, after losing its location due to the objection of Gwinnett Place Mall (a Simon company.) The Tea Party had been scheduled to take place in the parking lot of the old Macy’s building at Gwinnett Place since March.
Normally I wouldn’t get bothered by something like this because Simon Property Group is a private business. But when you follow the money you can see a clear political statement being made by the wealthy liberal business.
American Thinker connects the dots.
1. Gwinnett Place Mall shut down the Atlanta Tea Party.
2. Simon Property Group owns Gwinnett Place Mall.
3. Melvin Simon (a Forbes 400 billionaire) is Co-chairman of Simon Property Group, Inc.
4. Melvin Simon has provided large political contributions to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Al Franken, John Edwards, the DNC and many other Democrats and Democrat organizations.
5. Melvin Simon was a major contributor to Barack Obama inaugural committee and has given at least $1 million to the William J. Clinton foundation.
6. Melvin’s wife, Bren, personally donated almost $100,000 to various political candidates, was a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, and contributed to President Obama’s inaugural committee.
I think a few emails in the direction of Simon Properties is in order. As a private business, Simon Properties has every right to make a huge political statement and try to shut down opposing views. But we as Americans also have rights… the right to vote with our dollar. The right to choose what business to support and what to show public distaste for.
What say you?
-Eric Odom
TaxDayTeaParty.com & American Liberty Alliance
Simon Properties operate the following malls in Atlanta:
1.) Lenox Square
2.) Phipps Plaza
3.) Gwinnett Place
4.) Mall of Georgia
5.) Town Center
6.) Cumberland
7.) North Lake Mall
Non-Simon Malls in Atlanta
1.) North Point
2.) Perimeter
3.) Arbor Place
4.) South Lake
I attended the Gwinnett Place Mall Tea Party Rally. It was relocated at the last minute to the Georgia State Capital and the rally took place on Washington St. Great speakers but horrible attendance as a result of the confusion and the change of venue was too sudden for those who made July 4th plans around the event. We took MARTA down to the Georgia State University subway station to access the event. If I had to guess, about 400 or less people probably attended as the sidewalks were full, but the streets were relatively empty aside from a few lounge-chairs. The event was from 6:00 PM to a little after 9:00 PM; and this wasn’t even the original event time due to their morning attempt being canceled as a result of the annual Atlanta Peachtree Road Race.
This event was far too important for Atlanta’s metropolitan public to miss out on. The Republican Party also hosted a BBQ event of some sort around town that drew many away from the actual Tea Party. As someone who feels betrayed by both Republicans and Democrats; the Tea Party is a breath of fresh air to have Constitutionalists and Libertarians present to add more perspective on the aspects affecting our political system and our society as a whole. I think the Christian Coalition should look for a new Party to be affiliated with. Channel 2 ABC News and Channel 11 NBC News appeared, but left without setting-up any significant cameras and left very early before the event was completed. I never saw Channel 46 CBS News or Channel 5 FOX News at the event.
They have every right to disassociate themselves from any or all political events. No need to punish them for their politcal beliefs. Its Anti-American.
1) boycott that Mall & find another place to have your TeaParty.
2) If you can’t find another place large ecough, Split into 2 or 3 Tea Parties in different locations & at different times. If they discover that trying to block us just multiplies us- Hurrah.
To whom it may concern:
Due to the “cancellation” of a Tea Party rally at a Simon Mall in Atlanta, I will no longer be shopping at any mall that bears “simon” in it’s organization. I appreciate your right as a private entity to do as you see fit and I hope you appreciate my right to take my hard earned, over-taxed money elsewhere.
Robert
Melvin Simon is a moron. He may be a billionaire, but Billary isn’t going to bail him out when his properties start to lose money. Boycott his properties FOR LIFE! And tell the merchants why you’re no longer shopping there.
Has anyone thought of the Atlanta Falcon’s stadium?
Perhaps they are being honest when they say that they don’t want ANY political events on their property. Look, if they have a tea party on the property, and it creates the impression that the adjacent mall is pro-tea party, then they risk alienating a tremendous number of shoppers, just as they are inadvertently alienating those who support tea parties. I think it’s best to keep public shopping malls neutral, and I don’t read this as some of conspiracy to quash the tea parties on the part of Simon.
I received e-mail notification of the cancellation from the Tea Party coordinators three days ago (the 22nd). In that notification the organizers said they were rolling the event into the Cobb Tea Party. From that e-mail:
[Event Co-Chair Debbie] Dooley stated, “The most important thing to do at this point is to stay on message, so we are joining forces with the Cobb for a large metro-area Tea Party on Friday, July 3rd, at 6 PM. The event is at Jim Miller Park at 2245 Callaway Road in Marietta. For information on the event, contact Cobb organizer Ben Mihalski at 770-726-7188, or visit http://www.cobbteaparty.com.”
The cancellation was wrong, even though it may have been within Simon’s rights. And as others have suggested, it’s our right to boycott Simon malls & their shops.
They have waited to the last minute to make it hard to protest and gather peacefully. I Urge Atlanta to show up anyway, anywhere, and everywhere. Don’t give in to the Political pressure of corrupt companies and individuals. God Bless America and our US Constitution!!
Nationalized Banks, Car companies, Healthcare, can socialism really be that far off? I think not.
This is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind when this great nation was created. What is wrong with people? Do “We the People” really believe in all this (explicative)? When does it end?
Simon runs many of malls across the Country.
Here’s where to locate one near you:
http://www.simon.com/findamall/default.aspx
Most are outlet malls, and the ‘premium malls’ are usually labeled “Mills” liked Gurnee Mills Shopping Center.
I would think Gwinnett Place Mall would welcome any, and every, large group to their location. If nothing else, there’s bound to be spill over into the stores and food court for sure. Missed opportunity there. Oh, well. I guess Cobb gets the cash this year. See you over at Jim R. Miller Park on the 3rd.
I agree with William. A boycott is well in order. These folks have known the plan since March, and I do not believe they waited this long to disallow use of the parking lot for any other purpose but to stop this protest. I have looked at the site for this company, and they don’t actually seem to have a particular thing you can boycott except not to shop in the stores in their malls (and apparently they have a number of them).
Is there another public place where the rally can still be held or have they prevented you the time to get permits etc for another place? Doesn’t Atlanta have a huge park or a location that might be accessible? I feel quite sure the attendance would have far exceeded the 20,000 this time around as people are becoming more aware of how bad things are and the tide is now turning.
In leu of that, I wish there was a radio station or TV station or business of some sort that had a large enough parking lot and was willing to stand up for freedom and the people’s right to protest our governments actions and wish the organizers the best of luck in finding someone willing to step up and help them.
Pat
boycot this mall and move to a better place. God bless America!