Santa Cruz City Council May Designate Entire City as a 'Safety Enhancement Zone'

...Ticket Revenue. If the city REALLY cared about the public's safety they'd tell their so-called 'planning department' that those sandwichboard signs littering and blocking pedestrian right-of-way at random. often state law prohibited places (crosswalks) all over downtown sidewalks will NOT be allowed on the 4th because of overcrowded sidewalk conditions... But you can be SURE they won't

Because #Corrupt #Pandering to #Corporatists

...for alerting us to this (even if I read it just this morning, a day late).

...for raising the issue and noticing what I missed--that the police-initiated "triple fine zones" have been extended city-wide as well as over a 3-day window.
No surprise that the Police Goodie Shop (aka City Council) is pandering to the "Public Safety" mythology and providing Fines and Frolic for our Armed and Uniformed Taxmen. More bucks for the bureaucrats. However the city-wide expansion was a shock.

The time period used to extend simply to the holiday itself (whether Halloween, New Year's or the Fourth of July) and perhaps part of the day after. The cancer continues to grow in time and space.

The last time a Councilmember questioned the need for this ratcheting up of super-visible police-state presence that I remember (and I don't claim to have a perfect memory) was when Tony Madrigal mentioned he'd gotten reports of racial harassment by the SCPD on the prior Halloween. He was uniformly denounced by the police-submissive Council, who came up to the public microphone to express their "confidence" in the SCPD (similar to what Micah Posner does every Council session on whatever issue, but more blatant and strident). See "Brief Interview with Councilmember Tony Madrigal on Free Radio Santa Cruz" at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/16/18447869.php .

Councilmember Posner advised me that if more people had shown up at City Council he might have voted against the Triple Fines for Three Days City-Wide. He's used this "come to City Council" dodge before. Pamela Comstock seems to have no trouble voting her right-wing views even when it's standing alone against the other six (or so she did yesterday). You'd think Posner would learn that you draw people to come to these meetings by showing some courage and some principles, regardless of your desire to "save political capital" and "pick your battles".

My brief comment to him:

"Councilmember Posner:

"In your trepidation not to offend the other Councilmembers and "pick your surrenders" you might have simply have amended the expansion of the "police state city wide for three full days" motion to simply refer to fireworks--if that was all you could think to talk about. I shall encourage homeless folks getting triple fines during that three-day period for "open container" to offer their thanks personally and and present their citations to you and your fellow Councilmembers to address the problems they have created."

The ordinance passed unanimously.

This is straight from the Sentinel article today. Notice the excuse for the checkpoints, which was happily repeated by the Sentinel:


Traffic Control

County leaders plan to control traffic in several areas from 7 p.m. to midnight July Fourth so emergency vehicles can reach the beach. Deputies also will check beachgoers for alcohol, glass, weapons and fireworks.

Davenport Main Beach.

East Cliff Drive at 12th, 13th and 14th avenues.

San Andreas Road and Estrella Avenue in La Selva Beach.

Rio del Mar Esplanade.

Rio del Mar Boulevard and Clubhouse Drive.

17th Avenue and Capitola Road.

17th Avenue and Brommer Street.

Seventh Avenue and Capitola Road.

Seventh Avenue and Brommer Street.

Source: County of Santa Cruz

Triple fines

Santa Cruz city leaders have enlarged a "triple fine" zone from the beaches to include the entire city July 4 to 6. The following fines will be enforced and do not include court fees.

$576 for urinating in public.

$288 for littering.

$1,056 for mutilating shrubbery or trees.

$576 for graffiti.

$480 for possessing an open alcohol container.

$480 for public consumption of alcohol.

About $700 for fireworks possession.

SOURCE: Santa Cruz police

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/santacruz/ci_26035040/santa-cruz-county-authorities-tackle-fourth-july-problems

The road closures listed above were called for by the County, and the list of fines is what will now be charged city-wide under the new City of Santa Cruz Safety Enhancement Zone ordinance passed last night.

The staff report provides the reassuring fiction that there is "no fiscal impact on the General Fund" for this massive police action--which is obviously misleading. There is no real estimate of the cost in hours and dollars that this provocative "drive 'em off the beaches" anti-Fireworks pretext (hmm, or is it "traffic control"?)...is promoting.

The community needs some kind of response to this--which is not the easiest thing to do or even contemplate against armed and organized gunmen.

Every year the Grandview Street neighborhood is transformed into a war zone around July 4th by teenage hooligans living there with their friends. Neighbors have reported that they and their animals are "freaked out" by the war like blasts (coming one after another).

Will the SCPD serve the law abiding residents of the Grandview Street neighborhood or their planning commissioner who manages the Section 8 apartment complex there?

I recommend jailing Staff.