Alameda County supervisors weigh ordinance banning sideshow spectators
OAKLAND -- Bay Area law enforcement has been frustrated in its attempts to control the growth and frequency of illegal sideshows.
Alameda County officials are considering a law that would make it illegal to be a spectator at the events, but officials have put the proposed ban on hold while they figure out the constitutionality of the ordinance.
Spinning doughnuts in the middle of an intersection while hundreds of people watch and record it may seem like fun to some, but in recent years, sideshows have become increasingly chaotic and dangerous. Gunfire is frequently heard at the impromptu car stunt shows. At one recent sideshow in Oakland, a car was set ablaze and repeatedly rammed by another vehicle.
UPDATE: Alameda County takes initial step towards banning spectators at sideshows
The incident happened just a block from the Alameda County Administration Building. Supervisor Nate Miley has seen enough.
"Nothing substantial has been done to try to address the involvement of sideshows," said Miley. "And it's just gotten more popular and, in fact, more dangerous."
So rather than further crack down on sideshow drivers, Miley and Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez have co-written a proposed ordinance that would outlaw being a spectator at the events. Anyone within 200 feet of a sideshow could be subject to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.
Miley says it is intended to reduce the crowds that now show up just to watch.
"That's the hope. That if there's not an audience for a sideshow, then there would be less of an incentive to be involved in an illegal sideshow," he said
Questions have been raised about the legality of the ordinance. David Loy, an attorney for a group called the First Amendment Coalition, doesn't think the law would be constitutional.
"The First Amendment guarantees the right not only to talk about things like sideshows, but also to observe, document and record them. Because they're events occurring in a public space and events of a public concern," said Loy.
He said there's another problem with outlawing the spectators. The spectator ban would be "content-based," making it illegal to observe or record -- in a normally legal public place -- simply because of the objectionable nature of the event.
"It is discriminating based on the content of speech, and that is something the government may virtually never do," said Loy.
At the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting last week, county officials heard from Tyler Dragoni, a high school government teacher who objected to the unlimited discretion the ordinance would give police to cite bystanders.
"I'm sorry, 'Trust me, bro' is not a valid constitutional carve-out that allows law enforcement to abridge a civil liberty," he told the board.
Dragoni said he felt an obligation to his students to speak up on the constitutional merits of the proposed ordinance.
"I don't need the government telling me what I can and cannot do in a public space," he said. "And our founders agreed on that. They agreed on that so much that they listed in our Bill of Rights certain things. And one thing that would be protected, obviously,-is the right to watch someone at an intersection, even if they are doing something reckless."
Miley said the issue has been tabled until the June 27th meeting to look into the constitutional issues being raised.
"Can we put more restrictions on that so that law enforcement doesn't have as much discretion in terms of citing a spectator?" Miley asked. "So we're trying to look at how we can narrow that down."
The ordinance would only apply to unincorporated areas of the county. While it currently allows for a punishment of six months in jail, Miley said he would rather it just involve fines. The ordinance may be amended to reflect that.
But he also said government has a responsibility to ensure public safety and that the sideshows are becoming a major public safety risk that is only being encouraged by all the people who show up to watch them.