Urban: “Tourists come to The Gaslamp Quarter (pictured above) for a good time: a little food, a little drink, a little history and culture. They don’t come to fight their way past tent cities blocking the sidewalk. And miniland San Diego needs its tourists. You think the locals are hitting Chew & Bricky’s? You ever tried parking down there on a Friday?”

Last Monday, Legoland California proudly celebrated the long-awaited opening of its San Diego miniland, which joins famous urban landscapes like New York, Los Angeles, and New Orleans at the world-renowned theme park. And last Tuesday, complaints began to come in about the homeless encampments along the city’s sidewalks and other heavily-trafficked areas. “It’s disgraceful,” said Legoland town councilman Greg Urban. “New Orleans is famously impoverished and crime-ridden, but they still know how to keep the streets clean for the paying public. New York has the Freedom Tower, we have the Free Public Campground. I know a lot of these people feel powerless to go anywhere else. That’s why it’s up to us to help find them a better place to be and move them there.”