9th CIRCUIT OVERTURNS SEATTLE   PERFORMERS’ PERMIT LAW

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Overturns Performer's Permit Law in Seattle ~ landmark case that will have important repercussions here, in our own "free speech zone" and could end the permit/lottery on Venice boardwalk!

A federal appeals court strikes down the city’s curbs on performers.  By Carol J. Williams June 25, 2009

Just in time for the summer tourist throngs, mimes, musicians and balloon-animal shapers have been newly empowered to bring their entertainments and tip jars to public parks. In a ruling with potentially wide implications for street artists throughout the West, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday struck down curbs imposed by Seattle on those performing at the popular Seattle Center, home of the landmark Space Needle.

Michael “Magic Mike” Berger, a busker who sculpted balloon figures and dazzled children with sleight-of-hand tricks, prevailed in his seven-year challenge of the constitutionality of Seattle’s 2002 rules regulating street performers. The city had required them to obtain permits, wear badges, refrain from soliciting gratuities, stay away from “captive audiences” and work only within designated sites. By contrast, Los Angeles city officials make little effort to rein in the street artists who abound at tourist venues like Venice Beach and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One local move, a 2001 ordinance restricting street banners in Santa Monica, drew a court challenge but has since been amended. In the decision by an 11-member en banc panel of the appeals court, a majority rejected Seattle’s argument that the rules were appropriate limits on “time, place and manner,” rather than an infringement on free speech.

“I think there’s going to have to be a reevaluation by many cities, certainly in the 9th Circuit and perhaps across the country, on the validity of various laws that restrict people from speaking in public and performing in public on sidewalks and parks,” said Elena Luisa Garella, Berger’s lawyer.  More

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CITY PUTS UP CONTROVERSIAL STREET SIGNS IN OAKWOOD

"No Vehicles Over 6ft High" Signs

Eight new street signs recently sprang up virtually overnight, with no warning, on the west side of 7th Avenue from Broadway to California sparking another controversy in the Oakwood neighborhood. 

Nobody expected the new signs on 7^th Avenue, where a number of RVs regularly park. Laddie Williams of VNAC, a native of Venice and a long-time Oakwood neighborhood activist, alerted her neighbors on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 to the fact that the City had just finished installing signs “NO VEHICLES over six feet tall”, all along 7th Avenue:  “Are they legal signs - they didn't win OPD's so now these signs?” she asks. 

When contacted by NOPD organizer, Mark Lipman, this was the initial response from Arturo Piña of Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office: 

“Hi folks: For clarification, per Coastal Commission, the City can restrict length and height.  That being said, I've queried our DOT to clarify where the request to have these signs installed came from.” 

Meanwhile, Rick Selan, also a long-time Venice neighborhood activist contacted the DOT offices to find out who authorized this latest assault on our streets, with the following results:  "This morning while in an IEP Meeting, I received a call from the Dept of Transportation returning my phone message. I was told that your [Councilman Rosendahl's] office was aware that Oakwood Area Senior Lead Police Officer Teresa Skinner gave the order to have these signs for no vehicles over six feet placed  on 7th Ave. in Venice."

This issue comes hard on the heels of the recent NOPD (No Overnight Parking Districts) vote by the California Coastal Commission on June 11, 2009.  Opponents of the OPD knew their victory would be short-lived and, while they celebrated they also contemplated what the next move would be from the proponents of OPD. 

According to Peggy Kennedy: "These signs should be only 100 feet from the intersection for visibility of traffic at the intersection. That is the intent of this traffic sign/law...These signs just put up on 7th is but one example of how the city uses (DOT and Public Works) street signs meant for traffic safety to remove poor people living in a vehicle or a poor person's work truck from an area that is being gentrified."

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MORE CONTROVERSY: OVER CANNABIS CLUBS SPRINGING UP IN VENICE

Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) is concerned with what it terms: a “Proliferation of Medical Marijuana Clinics in Venice” and VNC board member, long-time community activist,Challis Macpherson, has requested that the VNC Board of Officers deliberate upon and move to recommend a course of action to CD11 (Bill Rosendahl’s Council District 11) regarding this issue.  According to “a Venice resident”, there is one at 812 Lincoln called Green Dot. This has been there for a few months. There is a new one being constructed at 736 Lincoln, which is just two doors down from 736. These are both a short distance from a school. They are also within 20 ft. of residences. The same landlord has rented to both of these … There is also another two blocks down at 410 Lincoln.

Rick Selan, a Venice neighborhood activist, has been doing his homework by staying on the heels of VNC Cannabis Chairperson Dexter O' Connell who has, apparently, repeatedly promised a public meeting on this issue but, to date, has not revealed either the date, time or location of this proposed meeting.  Below is an excerpt from an email sent by Rick Selan to SOV and others:

"Dear Dexter O' Connell and Communications Director Sean Kelly: On July 5, 2009, I searched the VNC website as I learned before that information is hidden in strange locations. As usual, I found information regarding your cannabis dispensary committee located within the home page of VNC on the "far Right" known as Recent Comments. Almost all of the comments in this section are written in Arabic. Some of these links open up both Arabic messages and certain VNC minutes that are apparently hidden within this Arabic section of recent comments.

I found these two posts from LUPC Chair Challis Mac Phearson and former VNC Vice President Yolanda Gonzalez.It appears your committee was set up after these comments were made at VNC Board Meetings.

While you continue to keep the location and time   of your cannabis dispensary meeting for July 7, 2009 hidden from the general publicand off the VNC website in violation of the Ralph Brown Act, please include this information on your agenda."

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