WeAreChangeLA 5-21-08 freeway blogging
On Wednesday, May 21, 2008, WeAreChangeLA had two huge visibility street actions and outreach using our enormous blue banners on a freeway overpass over one of the busiest parts of the 10 freeway. Tens of thousands of cars passed underneath our banners that day.
The CHP dropped by to put a stop to our outreach, and we had a productive conversation with them. In the comments under our last freeway blogging encounter with the CHP, Robin Hordon had suggested that we ask for a citation the next time that the CHP ask us to leave. Asking for a citation was the central theme of our entire encounter with the CHP this time...
PART 1 of 3:
PART 2 of 3
PART 3 of 3
We had a great time, and we alerted commuters by the thousands!
Bruno, Katy, Stewart, Esther, Anne, Garko, Mike, and Steve!
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Great Job
Great job WeAreChangeLA. You people have done some admirable work. Like Luke Rudowski says, "exposing the truth one Youtube video at a time."
Great job and you should put it on wheels
While watching the third video, I was thinking you should build a break down type frame and put it on casters and I was going to comment to suggest it to you. Then one of you fellows said that yourselves. It would be a lot easier for you moving along the side walk.
If I heard right you have a 5' x 30' sign which is 150 sq. feet. Wind pressure is a function of it's velocity and the equation is P = .004V**2, with V in mph. So a 30 mph wind would put 3.6 lbs. per sq. foot on the sign and a total of 540 lbs. You also have to worry about the overturn moment. It looks like the center of pressure, with you carrying the bottom about 1 foot above a 3 foot high ledge of the fence, is about 78 inches. So the moment you would have with a 30 mph wind is 42,120 in. lbs.
It would be simple enough to build a knock down wooden frame but, considering the moment, you should also use gussets and not just straight poles. I would also use pneumatic casters (inflatable tires) as they will roll a lot easier on concrete. They are made in 8 5/8 inch diameters. If you connect one end to the other at the bottom, it would make it easy for two people to push along.
Have an attorney who could help?
Could WeAreChangeLA possibly recruit a good attorney (or even a paralegal) to do some research on a pro bono basis?
You need to find out exactly what state laws and local ordinances bear on your sign-holding activities on freeway overpasses. Vague references to your (federal) First Amendment rights don't give you the firm grounding you need to deal with the armed enforcers of the State.
Their basic m.o. for crushing your freedom of speech is to threaten you with jail. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. Your case would probably be quickly dismissed by the judge, but not before you spent a hellish night or two in the local jail (possibly being anally raped if you're a male, or "cavity searched" if you're a female), posted bail (though you'll make good on your bail, a considerable hassle nonetheless), and paid many hundreds of, if not several thousand, dollars to a (hopefully capable and caring) lawyer. The jack-booted "enforcement officers" routinely use their knowledge of how much you'll be sacrificing to extort members of the public to comply with their extra-legal commands.
Of course an injunction against these officers is possible, but you need to know all the applicable laws, ordinances, and precedents, and then have your attorney undertake such this action for you -- a big expense if you have to pay for his time.
Fortunately for the thugs who run the government, they've set up the system to stymie dissent, while while boasting of our supposed freedoms and how they protect them!
Nice job
Nice job, you guys really handled yourselves in a patient and admirable manner.
I think that cop was just making stuff up -- I find it hard to see how a "moving sign" is any less distracting than a fixed sign. Furthermore, there are billboards and signs on the highways for restaurants, gas stations, and other advertising. How are they any less distracting?
Also, it is not like you guys had planned to permanently leave your banner there. Just because it is public property, it seems odd that you can't rest it against the fence. Would you be cited for just leaning your back against the fence, if indeed the problem is touching public property? It's not like you were damaging public property.
But, as someone else stated, it may be a good idea to know exactly what the law says in your situation.
Your overpass advertising is a great way to get the message out to a lot of people.
Great Job WeAreChangeLA
Next time you do some freeway blogging and get harassed by the CHP, go to another freeway overpass bridge and unfurl a large US flag.. and see if they harass you for *that*! The implications either way, re. the CHPs behavior, are pretty indefensible.
Well done... great work! 50,000 vehicles in a couple of hours is real "bang for the buck". :)
Outstanding work in L.A.
Thanks for bringing the truth to the masses as best as "you're allowed" by the police state there. Keep up the outstanding year.
amazing
you guys are awesome. rock on, much love to you all.
we just decided to spend our next funds on the same huge banners!
"I will not withdraw from this war even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me." -George W. Bush
ps
totally nonsensical for the cop to say it would be more distracting to have a stationary sign rather than a moving one! And what about HUGE billboards and ads littering the sides of freeways in LA??? Is that not distracting?
"I will not withdraw from this war even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me." -George W. Bush
I think it boils down to this
If you are stationary you are obviously there for a reason and that it is to attract attention. If you are moving you at least look like you are going somewhere, such as an advertisement on a moving vehicle would. It's all about perception. Ask yourself this, if you were trying to get from point A to point B and you were carrying something that just happen to have a message (whether intended to be seen or not) could the cops stop you for distracting drivers or causing traffic? Probably not.
These are very interesting...
Freeway Blogging catching on in LA! It was a very interesting encounter with CHPs. I give everyone high marks, including the supervisor. Hopefully, this is how 9/11 Truthers will be treated. I suspect, the video running aids your cause immensely.
It's of interest the officers wouldn't give you a citation, although, I thought kind of nuts seeking one for a court hearing of your complaint? I don't know if this is the battle you want to chose to fight? There are bigger and better ones, IMHO?
It looks like you had fun on a relatively smog-free bright day?
Waiting for the Sequel....
...don't believe them!
check out this case:
Ovadal v. City of Madison, WI
This is a federal appeals court case. Also, check out Members of City Council of City of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent, which was a supreme court case. It's facts are a little different from your scenario, but it does deal with the 'traffic hazard' issue.
by the way, GREAT JOB!!!!!
Be the media
we need to have in this world.
Freeway blogging is a definite part of this alternative media we're being forced to create. I love doing it, but I'm an "outlaw" and just attach my signs to the overpasses and run, fast.
I'm curious as to why you have not cut some vents in the banner to reduce the wind resistance and make it much easier to handle.
I need to find some co-conspirators and walk a banner on the pedestrian overpass on 80 in Berkeley (a popular location with Code Pink) and see what happens.
Keep up the great work, WAC LA!
Thanks again for coming up to San Francisco with all your great banners and fantastic energy, you guys ROCK!
Cheers, John
The truth shall set us free. Love is the only way forward.
How 'bout a billboard?
I wonder how much a billboard is. We could have a chip 'in to fund one for a month.
Boneheadedness
The officer’s argument in part 2 makes no sense. It would be more distracting for drivers to move the sign from side to side than to hold it in place. Also, how is holding a stationary sign on the overpass more distracting than a street sign?
Conversation VS Confrontation...OH yeah...the ACLU
Sweet....
Next time out, the CHPrs will have spread the word amongst themselves and since they have no legs to stand on, they won't try to scam you as desperately. They will become YOUR protectors.
And another suggestion for all across the country...
I recommend that everyone reach out to your local ACLU gang...they will have already done the reasearch and the "in court actions" to establish our first amendment rights on public property in your areas. Most likely, they will have sections of their work on line so that you all can read them, print them out, carry them with you, and of course, give them to the police folks as neccessary.
After all, we are into the truth, and into the facts, and into being our own educators, and into being our own media. OBVIOUSLY, the CHPrs need a bit more "information"...and you guys are having a blast being civil in doing it.
The thing about authority since 9/11, and perhaps before, is that it has oft been used arbitrarily and without specific laws to back it up. The "gendarmes" have been able to do this because the masses are functioning in fear and fail to speak up reasonably against the fear tactics.
I have yet to meet a 9/11 Truther who is afraid...a bit too confrontational yes, but afraid...not a single one!
We are so AWSOME!!!!!!!
So, when we find out what laws we DO have on our side, and use them as they are intended to be used, IE: to protect us, and DO NOT get side tracked into a dialogue about confronting "THE MAN", well, the MAN must then serve us!
HMMM...what a whacky thing AYE? And what fun....
My overall point to support such wonderful CI actions as WAC-LA is setting such a wonderful example of, is that each even smallish group in each location all across the world can, and will, find out where to be, when best to be there, how to be legal, how to be efficient...and it will be fun and rewarding when its all done. Good for several cool pints I'd say!
Just wait till bannering and flyering, and DVD-ing gets more local and outside of ballparks, concerts, festivals, ferry terminals, busy pedestrian malls [legally of course], busy pedestrian street corners, and eventually even across the streets from churches and high schools...in ADDITION io highway bannering. What you will come to appreciate are the solid citizens who occasionally come over and THANK YOU for doing what you are doing...keeping dissent and democracy alive. They are admitting that they simply can't do it for a variety of reasons, but they are so glad that someone is making up for them in this action.
Of course, slapping a peace symbol or the word peace alongside any 9/11 Truth messaging will open millions more doors. Its happening more and more each and every day because the peace movements KNOW that they are dead in the water. And inside, they know as we do, that we will not go away, and that we are quite right in what we are doing and the points that we are making..seeking TRUTH!. If this begins to happen, PLEASE inform them that we are conversational, educational, informational and NOT confrontational as they wre in the 60s and 70s. No need to confront the public at large...we got the goods...they just don't know it...YET!
Love, Peace and Progress with:
PUBICALLY FUNDED ELECTIONS using HAND COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS on a NEW PAID FEDERAL VOTING HOLIDAY [ so we can do more bannering and get paid for it! ]
Wish I was there...but actually, I was up here around the Puget Sound with my bannering reaching another 10,000 folks over two days of CI activism...but I still wish I was there too!
Robin Hordon
PS: Please do not argue with morons...its cointelpro behavior and leads to NOTHING of value...rdh