City of Sacramento May Revise "Parade" Ordinance

On August 5, 2004, the Sacramento City Council will consider "revising" its so-called Parade Ordinance, which criminalizes the innocent posession of everday household items at public gatherings.

The proposed revisions to the ordinance do nothing to correct the current version's unlawfully vague and arbitrary criminalization of the mere posession of any "solid object" measure more than 3/4" in any dimension. Instead, the new revisions seek to even further muddy the ordinance's provisions by "clarifying" that the ordinance's provisions are not to be taken as an infringement of the First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of association.

Civil rights advocates opposed the original ordinance, which was adopted in anticipation of an international conference on agriculture at the City's Convention Center. Post 9/11 hysteria and paranoia regarding the potential for civil disobedience such as occurred at the Seattle WTO conference prompted the City Council to adopt the ordinance, despite the lack of any credible information that any such disruptions might occur at the Sacramento event.

The ordinance is also in direct conflict with a resolution denouncing the USA Patriot Act's infringement of civil liberites, which was passed by the City Council in November of 2003.

Rather than "amending" the ordinance, local civil rights advocates are asking that the City repeal the ordinance altogether. Until the ordinance is repealed, the mere posession at a public gathering of such everday items as a pager, a cell phone, a frisbee, or a guitar could result in detention and arrest.

A copy of the City's staff report and the proposed ordinance and revisions can be reviewed at http://www.cityofsacramento.org/council/parade_ord_report.htm.