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Local Landscapers Protest The Big Event, Claim Disruption of Business

By 12th Man Bowels , in Local News , at March 20, 2018 Tags: , , , ,

Many landscapers local to the Bryan-College Station area have gathered to protest The Big Event, an annual service day for Texas A&M students. The dispute began after some landscapers attributed declining sales in the months following The Big Event to the mass quantities of free labor distributed to the “well-off” families in the area. Around 100 workers gathered with unpainted picket signs on the MSC grass to kick off the protest (and a possible job opportunity).

The protesters’ main issue is found in a specific clause within The Big Event’s core values. The clause reads, in part, “This one-day event is not based on socioeconomic need.” While this clause is most likely an effort at avoiding discrimination, many landscapers see it differently.

“Rich people are our entire clientele,” said Rick Preston, a contractor for a local landscaping company. “Poor people are the ones who could actually appreciate yard work. Instead, our business is ripped away, leaving us with no way to make money for months.” Business owners that live in other college towns infected by The Big Event have experienced a similar issue.

The majority of the protesters did not want to see The Big Event discontinued, but rather, substantially changed. They see an opportunity for students to perform jobs at which they are actually skilled. “Can’t the engineers engineer something or the business students help small businesses?” said Julia Vernon, another protester. “Why are they assigning kids to mulch yards when they have no experience in landscaping?”

A minority group of landscapers in the community sees The Big Event as more of an opportunity than a threat. One landscaper pointed out that so many yards are left unfinished or even worse after volunteers “work” on them, making this a massive market for landscapers to fix the mess of inexperienced students.

Until the issue is resolved, the elite of BCS will continue to reap the benefits of free yard service while the landscapers keep struggling to stay afloat.

 

—12th Man Bowels