Yesterday Chris Daly, Supervisor for District 6 of San Francisco which includes the Tenderloin area, proposed a ban on lying on the sidewalks. This legislation differs from the proposed sit/lie law sponsored by Chief of Police Gascon and Mayor Gavin Newsom in that it doesn’t prohibit lying down, but telling lies while on the sidewalks.

Although far-fetched and a bit bizarre, Daly’s proposal portrays the equal ridiculousness of the sit/lie law which gives police the power to fine or arrest people for innocent behavior. In addition, sit/lie would criminalize certain groups including the poor and homeless.

Last Saturday, individuals and groups gathered peacefully all across the city of San Francisco to participate in Sidewalks are for People, a decentralized, city-wide event that encourages people to utilize their city sidewalks as places of community-building. Over 2 dozen events, including poetry workshops, bbqs and tea parties, occurred in all areas of the city and demonstrated how sit/lie would eliminate sidewalks as community space.

A sit/lie hearing will take place at City Hall on Monday, May 10th at 10:00am. Stand up for your right to sit down and oppose sit/lie.

Tags: bills and legislation, gavin newsom, homelessness, san francisco, sit/lie

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Advocacy, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.