Once again the forums of Santa Rosa's daily are over ridden with racist venting.
It seems that yesterday a possibly intoxicated man had the audacity to flee detention. And be Latino. At the same time.
The cops decided to chase him, on foot, by car, and with air support. No less than three agencies were involved: The Sonoma County Sheriffs Department, the Santa Rosa Police Department, and California Highway Patrol. That concentration of police forces says something about the climate of the neighborhood.
I'm not defending public drunkenness (which is alleged at this point, not proved), so much as questioning police tactics. What did chasing this guy down, calling out multiple agencies, calling in air support accomplish? It got three deputies hurt, the arrestee hospitalized, a copwatchers videotape and camera confiscated, and attracted a neighborhood crowd to witness the arrest. If that is the goal, then job well done, if it isn't then the cops need to change what they are doing.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Your privilege is showing
this is a draft I'll be punching it up over the weekend so check back, if you want to torture yourself you can watch the video here
Just got home from a Santa Rosa city council meeting. I was there because they were considering a $1500 fee for "Free Speech Parades."
Short version of the history: in 1991 the city adopted an ordinance that established 3 (really on 2, one with an optional extension) Free Speech Parade routes, from Santa Rosa Middle School to Courthouse Square, or from Santa Rosa Junior College to Courthouse Square or Julliard Park. These routes were based on the protest patterns of the time (mostly anti-Gulf War 1, and protests against logging in Headwaters. Few of the marches i went to in those days stayed on those routes, but they didn't vary much either. The Earth First!/Headwaters marches usually went to the California Department of Forestry office on Ridgeway, the anti-war marches usually took the mall, the police accountability marches usually blockaded or occupied the lobby of the cop shop. But I was a ruffian, and irresponsible, and liked to drop the f-bomb... all still true, I guess.
Anyhow the old rule was that as long as folks stayed on the sidewalk and and followed the designated city approved route, they could march for free. If they deviated from the approved routes the city could attempt to recover expenses. Get that... this is law so words like "could" have a very specific meaning, basically if they want to; "attempt" means try, meaning that if the group being hit with charges disputes the charge there will be some mediation or adjudication. Doesn't matter since NONE OF THIS HAPPENED EVER. I can think of dozens of marches that left the "free speech" zone and where never charged a dime.
Then in April and May of 2006 there were back to back marches of over 10,000 people one commemorating Cesear Chavez, and the second for immigrant rights. This time not by mostly white college students/punk rockers/hippies/and folks from the peace churches, but by Mexicans, Latino/as and Chicano/as (and yes each of those words means something very different and if you use them interchangeably you're a racist). Anywho the powers that be got scared, tried to negotiate the march into a minimal impact, then levied ridiculous fees, and over the next year used every ham fisted divide and conquer trick in the book... to no avail and in 2007 there were again back to back marches for the same issues with over 10,000 folks attending.
So this year the city manager (who makes over $200,000 per year) an SRPD lieutenant (who makes over $100,000 per year) and the city attorney (another $200,000 per year) decided to reset the rules. The old rules were unenforced, inconsistent and out date. The new rule they proposed was a $1500 flat fee for all "Free Speech Parades" with over 3000 attendees (suddenly cops have incentive to over estimate crowds), the reason for this fee is to recover city expenses associated with law enforcement for the marches (basically 20-30 cops on overtime parked in intersections on the march route "directing traffic", something I did after school in the 4th grade as a volunteer). The actually city expense is estimated to be $10-$15,000, so the city manager said $1500 was a bargain, and since the city didn't exercise it's right to collect the "actual costs" for the past 2 years the new rule should be accepted.
There are obvious problems with the city managers thinking: why pay cops to do something 9 year olds can do for free, isn't police service part of what taxes already pay for, why are people expected to ask for permission to assemble, and the biggie: WHY WASN'T THIS A PROBLEM UNTIL MASSIVE NUMBERS OF BROWN PEOPLE STARTED MOVING?
So this was supposed to be a quickie and I'll cut to the chase so I can get some sleep and come back to this in the AM.
After what Mayor Bob Blanchard said was over 30 public comments (I didn't count) all against ANY fee. There was a go round of the city council explaining their positions and thinking. My summations are anything but unbiased.
Bob Blanchard (mayor): retired law enforcement, unable to think critically about anything a cop says, if a cop says there needs to be 30 cops pulling OT sitting in their cars watching the march go by, then that's what there needs to be... but maybe the city can be big hearted... but 10 cents on the dollar for the safety that cops bring is a lot of bang for the buck... and I got some very nasty e-mails and phone calls that I won't report on the content of other than to say they are in support of even higher fees... playing good cop bad cop by yourself is confusing Voted in support of the fee
John Sawyer (vice-mayor): Non-sequitor "last month we had to cut funding to 30 non-profits by 30% and eliminate it for next year, if we don't recover this $3000, we are taking out of the pockets of pregnant alcoholics"... what? this guy is hopeless, let's get him fired. Voted in support of the fee
Veronica Jacobi (council member): understands that protest is important, encourages folks to recycle and stay on the sidewalk... what? Voted against the fee
Lee Pierce (council member): closest to actually "getting it" on the council, talked about the march on Washington, and asks ironically if there was a fee for that... hell yeah! Voted against the fee
Susan Gorin (council member): wavered quite a bit, is concerned about the budget, realizes the $3K is a drop in the bucket (especially compared to the $60K that goes unrecovered from the Rose Parade and the Downtown Market)... OK, Voted against the fee
Carol Dean (council member): admonished us to act right, and reminded us that we were stealing from pregnant alcoholics... Sure thing weirdo, Voted against the fee
Jane Bender (council member): reminded me of my Grandma, and not in a good way, another admonishment to act responsibly with our new found ability to assemble in public and petition the government for redress of our grievances... OK OK OK, Voted against the fee
so for those keeping score: the two white guys voted for the fee, everyone else voted against it, even if it was for really confused and half-assed reasons in the end
Just got home from a Santa Rosa city council meeting. I was there because they were considering a $1500 fee for "Free Speech Parades."
Short version of the history: in 1991 the city adopted an ordinance that established 3 (really on 2, one with an optional extension) Free Speech Parade routes, from Santa Rosa Middle School to Courthouse Square, or from Santa Rosa Junior College to Courthouse Square or Julliard Park. These routes were based on the protest patterns of the time (mostly anti-Gulf War 1, and protests against logging in Headwaters. Few of the marches i went to in those days stayed on those routes, but they didn't vary much either. The Earth First!/Headwaters marches usually went to the California Department of Forestry office on Ridgeway, the anti-war marches usually took the mall, the police accountability marches usually blockaded or occupied the lobby of the cop shop. But I was a ruffian, and irresponsible, and liked to drop the f-bomb... all still true, I guess.
Anyhow the old rule was that as long as folks stayed on the sidewalk and and followed the designated city approved route, they could march for free. If they deviated from the approved routes the city could attempt to recover expenses. Get that... this is law so words like "could" have a very specific meaning, basically if they want to; "attempt" means try, meaning that if the group being hit with charges disputes the charge there will be some mediation or adjudication. Doesn't matter since NONE OF THIS HAPPENED EVER. I can think of dozens of marches that left the "free speech" zone and where never charged a dime.
Then in April and May of 2006 there were back to back marches of over 10,000 people one commemorating Cesear Chavez, and the second for immigrant rights. This time not by mostly white college students/punk rockers/hippies/and folks from the peace churches, but by Mexicans, Latino/as and Chicano/as (and yes each of those words means something very different and if you use them interchangeably you're a racist). Anywho the powers that be got scared, tried to negotiate the march into a minimal impact, then levied ridiculous fees, and over the next year used every ham fisted divide and conquer trick in the book... to no avail and in 2007 there were again back to back marches for the same issues with over 10,000 folks attending.
So this year the city manager (who makes over $200,000 per year) an SRPD lieutenant (who makes over $100,000 per year) and the city attorney (another $200,000 per year) decided to reset the rules. The old rules were unenforced, inconsistent and out date. The new rule they proposed was a $1500 flat fee for all "Free Speech Parades" with over 3000 attendees (suddenly cops have incentive to over estimate crowds), the reason for this fee is to recover city expenses associated with law enforcement for the marches (basically 20-30 cops on overtime parked in intersections on the march route "directing traffic", something I did after school in the 4th grade as a volunteer). The actually city expense is estimated to be $10-$15,000, so the city manager said $1500 was a bargain, and since the city didn't exercise it's right to collect the "actual costs" for the past 2 years the new rule should be accepted.
There are obvious problems with the city managers thinking: why pay cops to do something 9 year olds can do for free, isn't police service part of what taxes already pay for, why are people expected to ask for permission to assemble, and the biggie: WHY WASN'T THIS A PROBLEM UNTIL MASSIVE NUMBERS OF BROWN PEOPLE STARTED MOVING?
So this was supposed to be a quickie and I'll cut to the chase so I can get some sleep and come back to this in the AM.
After what Mayor Bob Blanchard said was over 30 public comments (I didn't count) all against ANY fee. There was a go round of the city council explaining their positions and thinking. My summations are anything but unbiased.
Bob Blanchard (mayor): retired law enforcement, unable to think critically about anything a cop says, if a cop says there needs to be 30 cops pulling OT sitting in their cars watching the march go by, then that's what there needs to be... but maybe the city can be big hearted... but 10 cents on the dollar for the safety that cops bring is a lot of bang for the buck... and I got some very nasty e-mails and phone calls that I won't report on the content of other than to say they are in support of even higher fees... playing good cop bad cop by yourself is confusing Voted in support of the fee
John Sawyer (vice-mayor): Non-sequitor "last month we had to cut funding to 30 non-profits by 30% and eliminate it for next year, if we don't recover this $3000, we are taking out of the pockets of pregnant alcoholics"... what? this guy is hopeless, let's get him fired. Voted in support of the fee
Veronica Jacobi (council member): understands that protest is important, encourages folks to recycle and stay on the sidewalk... what? Voted against the fee
Lee Pierce (council member): closest to actually "getting it" on the council, talked about the march on Washington, and asks ironically if there was a fee for that... hell yeah! Voted against the fee
Susan Gorin (council member): wavered quite a bit, is concerned about the budget, realizes the $3K is a drop in the bucket (especially compared to the $60K that goes unrecovered from the Rose Parade and the Downtown Market)... OK, Voted against the fee
Carol Dean (council member): admonished us to act right, and reminded us that we were stealing from pregnant alcoholics... Sure thing weirdo, Voted against the fee
Jane Bender (council member): reminded me of my Grandma, and not in a good way, another admonishment to act responsibly with our new found ability to assemble in public and petition the government for redress of our grievances... OK OK OK, Voted against the fee
so for those keeping score: the two white guys voted for the fee, everyone else voted against it, even if it was for really confused and half-assed reasons in the end
Saturday, March 29, 2008
leftover writer's strike goodness
so...
the writer's strike allowed some unusually good things to end up on TV. Remember who's writing this (a guy with a closet full of comics, a wall full of action figures, and faith in the power of people to overthrow capitalism).
I just finished watching the last episode of Jericho (the whole time grinning and saying to Desiree "there is no way this is coming back for a third season"). To sum it up a nuclear attack on 22 US cities sets the stage for social disintegration and civil war. The first season is about how a plucky plains town pulls together to survive. The second season is about the US occupation of Iraq... err... I mean Kansas. It's good stuff. Lots of corn, and apocalypse, I love it. Plus the CIA agent monologues about individual responsibility to act right when it's obvious that the chain of command is unaccountable and totally nuts, while bleeding from a belly wound, while a bad-kid turned special ops military turned private contractor turned returning hero turned sheriff turned insurgent is driving him around in an ambulance with an improvised NUCLEAR FUCKING BOMB; and interlaced with this are scenes of a military commander resigning and convincing everyone in his command to walk with him, and the home town resistance preparing for (but ultimately punking out of) the long fight to cast off corporate/military domination. Torrent it, all of it, start to finish, then watch Jeremiah.
That Terminator show may actually end up a casualty of the strike... I think if the writers had been involved in the final editing process it would have been a lot better.
Now that Lost is down to a 13 episode season it feels manageable again.
And Supernatural completely half-assed it's way through the strike, with hilarious results... go torrent "mystery spot".
And Chuck and Reaper both rule.
but honestly, fuck TV.
what I've been really excited about is audio-drama podcasts. Yes, I AM THAT NERDY.
First go listen to Claybourne for real... and start at the beginning...
Okay, awesome right?
Now back to the nerding.
Any fans of Joss Whedon should be reading Buffy Season Eight and Angel After The Fall AND listening to Buffy Between the Lines. This was the show that started me on this audio-drama kick. The first couple episodes are cute in that "it's my friends band" way but by episode four the whole ensemble process has really hit it's stride and the actors/writers/editors/directors/producers are pulling things off at a near professional level. And what they are doing with the story and character arcs really fills in the between season gap well. I might even get around to submitting my application to do sound editing and be part of season two.
And you all know I'm hooked on Star Wars, which is much more understandable if you know my full bio, and my tumultuous relationship with... you guessed it... my Dad. Fortunately he's not trapped in armor, my Mother didn't lamely die of a broken heart, and I don't have a twin sister to make out with (yuck), but I am a whiny bumpkin with delusions of grandeur. Anyway check out Blue Harvest for an at times awesome and always adequate Star Wars fan service. Neal, the writer/director, is steeped in the Star Wars myth, he's taken a few characters and concepts abandoned by Lucas in early drafts, revivified them and made them his own and come out with a compelling story. The only short coming here is that it mimics too closely the film serials that inspired Lucas. Some resolutions to cliff hangers are a bit too contrived but I suppose that is part of the form (and story, and myth).
The Sonic Society drops 5 hours a month of the best audio-drama-cinema/pulp radio/whatever, every month. My tastes are far too much in accord with Jack and Shannon to even pretend objectivity. Besides these are the folks responsible for Firefly: Old Wounds, which now that I think of it may have been what got me hooked on this stuff, so not pretending to be objective and moving right along...
The March 25th Sonic Society had a promo for an upcoming Battlestar Galactica show from BrokenSea. Not some Jimi-Hendrix-indicates-that-Starbuck-is-a-Cylon Galactica of today, I'm talking full blown 1970's Egyptianesque flight helmet wearing Mormons in space... too bad you can't see the Cylons or the flight helmets.
the writer's strike allowed some unusually good things to end up on TV. Remember who's writing this (a guy with a closet full of comics, a wall full of action figures, and faith in the power of people to overthrow capitalism).
I just finished watching the last episode of Jericho (the whole time grinning and saying to Desiree "there is no way this is coming back for a third season"). To sum it up a nuclear attack on 22 US cities sets the stage for social disintegration and civil war. The first season is about how a plucky plains town pulls together to survive. The second season is about the US occupation of Iraq... err... I mean Kansas. It's good stuff. Lots of corn, and apocalypse, I love it. Plus the CIA agent monologues about individual responsibility to act right when it's obvious that the chain of command is unaccountable and totally nuts, while bleeding from a belly wound, while a bad-kid turned special ops military turned private contractor turned returning hero turned sheriff turned insurgent is driving him around in an ambulance with an improvised NUCLEAR FUCKING BOMB; and interlaced with this are scenes of a military commander resigning and convincing everyone in his command to walk with him, and the home town resistance preparing for (but ultimately punking out of) the long fight to cast off corporate/military domination. Torrent it, all of it, start to finish, then watch Jeremiah.
That Terminator show may actually end up a casualty of the strike... I think if the writers had been involved in the final editing process it would have been a lot better.
Now that Lost is down to a 13 episode season it feels manageable again.
And Supernatural completely half-assed it's way through the strike, with hilarious results... go torrent "mystery spot".
And Chuck and Reaper both rule.
but honestly, fuck TV.
what I've been really excited about is audio-drama podcasts. Yes, I AM THAT NERDY.
First go listen to Claybourne for real... and start at the beginning...
Okay, awesome right?
Now back to the nerding.
Any fans of Joss Whedon should be reading Buffy Season Eight and Angel After The Fall AND listening to Buffy Between the Lines. This was the show that started me on this audio-drama kick. The first couple episodes are cute in that "it's my friends band" way but by episode four the whole ensemble process has really hit it's stride and the actors/writers/editors/directors/producers are pulling things off at a near professional level. And what they are doing with the story and character arcs really fills in the between season gap well. I might even get around to submitting my application to do sound editing and be part of season two.
And you all know I'm hooked on Star Wars, which is much more understandable if you know my full bio, and my tumultuous relationship with... you guessed it... my Dad. Fortunately he's not trapped in armor, my Mother didn't lamely die of a broken heart, and I don't have a twin sister to make out with (yuck), but I am a whiny bumpkin with delusions of grandeur. Anyway check out Blue Harvest for an at times awesome and always adequate Star Wars fan service. Neal, the writer/director, is steeped in the Star Wars myth, he's taken a few characters and concepts abandoned by Lucas in early drafts, revivified them and made them his own and come out with a compelling story. The only short coming here is that it mimics too closely the film serials that inspired Lucas. Some resolutions to cliff hangers are a bit too contrived but I suppose that is part of the form (and story, and myth).
The Sonic Society drops 5 hours a month of the best audio-drama-cinema/pulp radio/whatever, every month. My tastes are far too much in accord with Jack and Shannon to even pretend objectivity. Besides these are the folks responsible for Firefly: Old Wounds, which now that I think of it may have been what got me hooked on this stuff, so not pretending to be objective and moving right along...
The March 25th Sonic Society had a promo for an upcoming Battlestar Galactica show from BrokenSea. Not some Jimi-Hendrix-indicates-that-Starbuck-is-a-Cylon Galactica of today, I'm talking full blown 1970's Egyptianesque flight helmet wearing Mormons in space... too bad you can't see the Cylons or the flight helmets.
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