Quote Originally Posted by sycld View Post

What the fuck are you talking about? English is subject to change, but it is not an "open language," whatever the fuck that means. Your teacher sounds like one of the stupid idiots that are fostering the mindset that's bringing about inane revisions like this.

Also, change is generally very slow, for good reason. Devices like apostrophes, commas, and the like exist to clarify the meaning of sentences and to lift syntactical ambiguities. Suddenly do away with any grammatical rule, and you're setting yourself up for the danger of doing away with the clarity that such a rule lent to the written word.
No, change is traditionally very slow, for valid reasons. With the advent of technology and it's influences on language then changes are happening much faster than previously. There's not really any way to stop that so it's probably better to embrace it and add your own influence to it.
Quote Originally Posted by sycld
I mean, yes: unlike in, say, eating, I will not die if don't follow the rules of English, and I can still function as a human being. I also won't be arrested and thrown in jail, nor will I become a social pariah (though I would advocate this punishment!). However, that doesn't mean that it's an intelligent thing to do...

The example you provided, while hilarious, still doesn't justify getting rid of a grammatical device altogether. Yes, many place names don't use apostrophes, and in this case it is probably less important. However, this city's officials are speaking as though the apostrophe should be abolished from the English language, which is a terrible idea.
And here is the important distinction: it is indeed a terrible idea and I don't believe for a minute that any city officials believe it's a great idea to get rid of apostrophes permanently. The article does make it sound that way though, but news articles like this usually need some sort of an angle and these guys took the "omgosh their ruining the langwige!" approach.