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Amanda Gaines
WMAL.comRICHMOND -- The Richmond Tea Party wants its money back from the city of Richmond for the cost of permits and other fees to use the same area in which Occupy Richmond has settled for nearly the past two weeks for free.
The local branch of the Tea Party says it should be reimbursed for all the fees accrued and paid over the past three years for use of Kanawha Plaza, a city-owned square across from the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank and a few blocks from Virginia state capitol buildings. Occupy Richmond, an affiliate with the Occupy Wall Street movement, moved into the square on October 15 and has not been charged a bill from the city.
A city employee who worked with the Tea Party to get permits for the plaza "told us that the occupiers have not paid for the park, have not paid for the permit, there's no sanitation, there's no trash pick-up -- nothing we had to pay for. They've done none of that," Colleen Owens, spokesperson for the Richmond Tea Party, told WMAL.com.
Owens says an invoice is not complete, but so far the Tea Party is looking to collect about $8,000 from the city of Richmond.
"It's obvious, it's so blatant, that basically we're punished for following the law -- which, of course, we didn't complain, we complied with everything they asked for," Owens said.
The Tea Party paid for use of the park, police, emergency personnel, port-o-potties, and other fees, Owens says.
"They're [Occupy Richmond] breaking the law. We complied with the law and the city of Richmond is not applying the law equally," she said.
(Copyright 2011 by WMAL.com. All rights reserved.)
Cross Linked! Hope you don't mind!
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