top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Disabled with only 30 minutes to spare. Navigating the 15 minute parking lot paranoia law.

by Tim Rumford (sleepisaright [at] live.com)
How the 15 Minute parking Lot Trespass effects the disabled.
640_eric.jpg
Disabled with only 30 minutes to spare.
Dealing with the 15 minute parking lot paranoia law. by Tim Rumford

The Santa Cruz Municipal Code Chapter 9.64 concerns the use of public parking lots and garages and was later amended to apply to all downtown public lots, and went into affect in mid-November, 2007. The law prohibits any person from staying in a parking garage or lot for more than 15 minutes and then only if your parking or retrieving your car or bike. If your disabled and can prove it, you have 30 minutes.

The law is unconstitutional in nature, is a complete unnecessary waste of resources and our tax money. There is already a law for anything that could possibly happen in a parking lot or garage. Public property, traditionally called “The Commons”, is is OUR property. How can we trespass on property we collectively own? The City has stepped up its pace of removing our rights and use of the commons over the years. Its time we take it back before its all gone. The Drummers, Trash Orchestra, and the community came together as the City Police assembled a few blocks away. The Jan 23 protest was very successful in my view. In numbers we will take back our rights.

However, how does this law impact a disabled person who may not have the protection of 100 protesters?

Here is one example: I have been disabled since a severe spinal injury that ended in surgery and some titanium embedded in my spine.

I also have neurological and immune system disorders from catching encephalitis while in the tropics in 1997. Encephalitis is basically swelling of the entire brain caused by a virus or infection. Although I lost everything, my house, wife, business, two cars and all my belongings -- I consider myself extremely blessed. Many people died - I lived. Many became comatose forever -- I woke up. Many were left unable to read or with severe mental disabilities. I regained much of what the big E took from me over a long three year recovery. Loosing everything can be an illuminating experience, but that part takes time and perhaps a story for another time and forum.

So I have to be very careful in how much energy I put out. I can feel great one moment and need to rest the next. I can't walk long distances without having to rest. A long walk for me is four blocks. I can look fine and feel horrible which makes expressing my limitations difficult at times.

My first paranoid encounter with this law occurred while I legally parked in a disabled spot to take a friend I was helping navigate the demoralizing social service system to see his Social Security lawyer. I was tired, spent. I needed to rest. So I showed my friend to the door of the lawyers office near the Santa Cruz Roaster and I fled to my car to rest. I was neurologically not well, as I often get when I am tired and in pain. In the parking garage were three groups of shoppers all having conversations with friends, all breaking the law.

I was aware of the law which only made my condition worse. I was not in the mindset to speak to any number of officers who know me and don't particularly like me, even know I have never been convicted of anything as an adult beyond dropped charges from protests or parking tickets. I do cop-watch and write on poverty issues. I file complaints against officers. So they don't like me much. I sat in my car and noted the time.

Officer Kine came cruising through and stopped blocking the back of my car. He looked at me and grinned while writing in his notebook. I am sure he was noting me and my car despite the other three groups chatting away right next to him. My heart began to race. All the Free School “Know Your Rights” tactics went through my mind and back out the other end. These tactics work, but only if you can remember them. I am prone to seizures and when I am stressed the tics and neurological problems worsen as does my anxiety and memory. I can have trouble speaking when I get this...whacked out. The simple thought of dealing with a cop in this state just makes it spiral into a worsening condition. Thats when its time to go home and call it a day, but my friend had not returned and I would never drive in that condition.

The grinning officer left, but I knew in 30 minutes he would return. Although he could have written me a ticket right there as I was not retrieving my car nor parking.

You have to understand that if an officer thinks your off your rocker, you can end up in the psyche ward, or worse -- on the end of a taser gun. That exact event happened and ended in a tragic unnecessary death because the officers mistook a seizure as a gesture of violence. You can read about it here - http://wizbangblog.com/content/2005/04/30/video-shows-5-t.php

or Google “Seizures taser deaths” and you will be surprised at the number of people who die due to the cops not understanding the nature of neurological disorders.

I tried to mellow myself out. I started reading to try and ground myself. The Cosmic Banditos was a good book, but it was too hard to focus. Time was passing. Just as the 30 minutes was up, the officer drove in from the opposite end of the lot. I was directly in front of Clouds. At this exact time my friend also came back. He got in the car as Officer Kine came back and pulled near my car as we quickly backed out. “Is that officer looking at you?” “Yes, I believe he is, get us out of here.”

The officer followed us to the very end of Ocean St. where we headed towards Felton.

Why? Why does this have to be this way? Although my fear and anxiety and problems are mine, I own them and I am responsible for my actions. I felt demoralized sitting in my car afraid. I was not so afraid of the cops , but how they would react to me, or how my body would react if at all.

I escaped only due to the timing of my friend. This officer would love to cite me for anything he could.

Then there is my mother. She is severely disabled. She is an X merchant from better days downtown, and like me often waits in the car while others continue to shop or do whatever they are doing downtown.

Now they simply do not go because she does not want to support the mall with these laws in place. She wants the right to sit in her car unmolested by the cops. True, she is aware they wont hassle her, after all she is disabled and her husband is shopping. This law is made for the poor, many disabled. It will and has been selectively enforced. Just as dogs on the mall are allowed for tourists and good consumers but not allowed for the poor, or even if you just look poor. The same could be said for sitting on the planters, which tourists sit on do as the City continues to remove the benches. Got to keep those shoppers moving. The homeless and poor are consistently harassed and cited for the same thing. The removal of benches also effects the disabled. I would hope this takes no explaining...

This may seem like a small thing, but to me it is not. I would bet a wooden nickel that most disabled advocacy groups will support the ending of this law. I believe one angle at stopping this law would be to contact all the Disability Rights Organizations and explain how a disabled person can't sit in their own car and rest on public property. With enough pressure form such groups, the talking heads that rule this City would not want the bad publicity and would cave with enough pressure.

Some good old fashion direct action like the Trash Orchestra dished out is one of the things we need to continuing doing to stop this, not just for the disabled, but for everyone, even the nine other people that remained in the lot, still talking when the officer returned and followed us, their shopping bags in hand -- they were immune.

Why does the most liberal town in the U.S. need free speech zones? Why is being poor a crime? Being poor and disabled seems to be even more of a crime. They have less resources to sleep, many are bound to wheelchairs or can't hike to their hidden campsites to avoid our other unconstitutional law, The Nighttime Sleeping Ban.

Of course there is an instant fix for all of this, its called money, credit cards, debt, and consumerism. Personally I would rather have my rights returned to me. But thats just me. I don't need shoes with flashing lights. I don't need pre-stained jeans or designer cloths made by child slaves. I just want my rights and my freedom. I thought that was the American Dream -- at least that is what my mother taught me.
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
Profoundly disabled, and confined to a wheelchair, disabled activist Eleanor Foresta claims that ANY time limit for disabled people is unconstitutional. For the 30-minute time limit may not be enough time for some, depending upon the type of disability. Disabled people are generally disabled 24-hours a day.

I'd also like to add that the removal of benches and sitting areas downtown negatively impact elderly people who don't have the stamina or flexibility to walk for blocks and blocks or to sit directly on the sidewalk 12" from a building.

But at least Mayor Ryan Coonerty's customers at Bookshop Santa Cruz are more "comfortable" now.

by leni

There are a bunch of disabled people in Berkeley who are organized, and don't take kindly to stuff like that. They have gotten engaged over more minor things like poor pavement and sidewalks or broken elevators, much less this stuff you describe here, where a law is institutionalizing poor public conditions for disabled people. You should contact some San Francisco Bay area people with ADA ltigiation experience and put their advice to work.
by Rico
For people to get organized they need first steps. How did they self-organize? Anyone here who's disabled have experience with that? Any contacts in Berkeley?
by leni
Let's see - here is a disability radio show on KPFA, which had someone I once drove to a rally on it. I haven't listened, but they have some archived shows on disability and homelessness

http://kpfa.org/archives/index_all.php?show=12
http://www.zmag.org/disabilityrights.htm

There is this organization called ADAPT which seems to do demos where the chapter shows up and does a sit-in over an issue, plus normal legislative petitioning. Their online membership is large, and due to employment discrimination, often there are very talented people with open days (countered with low-income) http://www.adapt.org/
by Tim Rumford
Thanks for the comments and ideas and links. The whole law bothers me for many reasons, but I thought it time we at least bring up how it effects the disabled, and yes Becky, your right, the elderly. I will do some research, but maybe a disabled sit in would be a better route, let the police come and drag disabled people out of their cars. While were at it we could do a read in, where people can just sit in their cars and read or better, on top of their cars. Just ideas that need allot more organizing than I am alone capable of.
Tim Rumford
by Tim Rumford (sleepisaright [at] live.com)
I will visit and contact the links and ideas people posted and post back what I learn. I really appreciate the info, a starting point.

Thanks
Tim Rumford
by Rico
...there is nothing they can't do together.

~or put another way~

There are a hell of a lot more of us, than them.
by Tim Rumford
It seems that disability advocacy groups, at the more grass roots level are willing to listen and give statements against laws like this or even other laws, crimes of necessity like the Sleeping Ban effect MANY disabled. But I agree, and thank you Rico for pointing out that in order to fight back in new ways, we need steps that are proven to work. Brining in orgs also gives me pause. They may complain about the tactics we use, which could end up hurting the movement. I hope that Santa Cruz can itself in numbers stop this law. But the effect on the disabled should not be left out or forgotten. I will hunt down more... Grass Roots radical disability groups who have a history of really fighting against such stuff like the people in Berkley, if they are as you say. Thats not a doubt -- only admitting I have not looked yet but headed there now.

With three lawyers for every six people in the U.S. you would hope there would be one for every injustice, but the dollar is more important to MOST, than justice or human or civil rights.

Tim Rumford
by Noodle Bowl
As a person who is classified as disabled, I am appalled at Mr. Rutherford and “Rico's” tactics. I am different, and I want to be looked at not as a disabled person, but as a “normal Joe”. No special treatments, just treat me fair, and give me chance.
To recruit and utilize disabled people for political reasons is despicable! Aside from the physically handicapped, will you try and pimp out the mentally handicapped for your agenda?
Please take another path to your goal.
I see you all are angry, and want to openly discuss this topic of Public Space. You have to find a different way….a peaceful./ legal way.
by Robert Norse
Sorry, "Noodlebowl". Criminalizing all innocent behavior in parking lots (except parking) impacts everybody--particularly disabled people. What's your disability, by the way?

It's a profound change from traditional Santa Cruz behavior, a direct assault on the right to assemble, and a vast expansion of police power.

Expelling everyone from parking lots doesn't make the community safer, as Sheila Coonerty of the Downtown Commission pointed out. It either moves problematic behavior (which it allegedly targets) elsewhere or simply eliminates the presence of people that would deter it.

City Council's "social cleansing" tactic of empowering police to drive everyone away from all the parking lots is the matter we're concerned with. Bad drugwar and sleepingban laws already exist that police can use to go after these alleged "crimes".
Those laws don't work for obvious economic reasons and because Santa Cruz--against all odds--still struggles to be a diverse community that admits the poor. So here comes the Coonerty Council with another hammer for police to drive away everyone (because it's constitutionally suspect to go after the riffraff per se).

If disabled people show up in numbers in visible protest, it clarifies what police are doing--quietly lot by lot, person by person.
And that's how police state stuff can happen--little by little. That's how it is happening here.

Peaceful civil disobedience is an important tactic, a respectable one, and--for several weeks--has been a successful one.

by Tim Rumford
as far as not being labeled Disabled, I understand that. However this is not about the label. I use the word for lack of a better one and to make my point. The fact is that I am disabled physically. I also want to be treated fairly and this law is not fair by any sense of the word. If you don't like the tactics, fine, but do you support the law? If so why? If not why and how should it be fought?
Tim Rumford
by Tim Rumford
Noodle Guy,
Standing up for my right to use a public lot as a disabled person and the affect it has on my family and me is not pimping out the disabled. I did not mention anyone but me and my mother. I want the right for ALL to use the lots and I think that everyone is very clear on that. The fact is this law does affect the disabled, poor or rich if its not selectively enforced, which it has been.

By the way for those who are interested that is Eric in the picture. He volunteered to serve food at the old Monday night Meal. He was a very nice guy and after sometime went home by choice, with a little dignified help. Serving the food gave him a sense of purpose, this has nothing to do with his disability. He gave me permission to use this photo. He took no services from Santa Cruz, but gave back by serving as a volunteer feeding others until he left.

Tim Rumford
by Tim Rumford
Becky,
Do you know the amendment or statute that makes a time limit on the disabled unconstitutional? I would think that is true, but, again I wan the right for ALL to use the lot, its good information to have. If you find anything solid let me / us know.
Thanks
Tim
by lust for my self
Thaks for telling me and every one alse how to live our lives .
by Tim Rumford
Not sure what the poster means by telling them how to live, unless your referring to the law, which does just that.

This post is my thoughts and views. I did not ask anyone to agree, and enjoy any real dialog, dissenting or not. I realized the importance of the nature of being disabled and expressing my views on this forum today when, despite REALLY wanting to go down and support the protest I again was unable, because I am disabled and have been having a rough... month. So I stand by my point that this law affects everyone, including the disabled, poor, elderly, and just plain tired if you want to rest in your car. But as long as your shopping your immune, so people don't really care unless they are not passive consumers. I get that, it doesn't affect you. But I was taught and believe in standing up for the rights of all people, especially those most ignored, the poor, the disabled, etc. etc. -- the people who lack the basic rights we still don't equally share in 2008.

I still have not heard a real argument for this law, only against the tactics used to oppose it. I find this with all our laws that are wrong, unconstitutional, immoral, and selectively enforced. If these laws applied to all as they should and old ladies and consumers were being ticketed at the same rate of real offenses as the law states, this whole City would show up in opposition. But you will not oppose a law that is clearly unconstitutional and selectively enforced because it doesn't affect you. How nice. Thats how we loose all our rights, what few we have left.
by Sum Dim
Hey Constable Norse, have you activated your "inner police officer" yet, and started handing out tickets in the parking lots? Maybe we'll have to send a policeman after you to make sure you don't just target tourists and locals. We need to make sure you also ticket the drug dealers and assorted losers who make up your social circle down there. Wouldn't want selective enforcement, now would we?

I hope you will all continue to post video of your exploits also. Most enlightening/side-splittingly amusing. Becky, keep up the good work, and maybe I'll call ASSNA for you, and nominate you for an award.

Stop it Loco. Stop. Ha ha ha!!!
by Some Are Dimmer
Those who have nothing to add to the debate, merely attack those who are debating.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network