Stand Against Sit Lie

Neither Mayor Newsom nor any member of his staff could be found today at a hearing for his proposed Sit/Lie ordinance.

Great work everyone!

First off, let’s recognize what a FANTASTIC job we’ve done thus far in thwarting the senseless sit/lie ordinance!  A huge thanks to everyone who was able to come out this morning.  Once again we thoroughly dominated the hearing before the Public Safety Committee.  We had a wonderfully diverse group of great people from across the city who spoke eloquently and convincingly against the ordinance.  While there were a couple of speakers who expressed frustration with the status quo on the sidewalks, not one person present spoke explicitly in favor of the sit/lie ordinance. Not one person.

Apparently the mayor and police were so embarrassed from their poor performance at the hearing two weeks ago that they chose to not even show up this time.  In today’s Chronicle cover story about Newsom’s plan to place a sit-lie ordinance on the November ballot, the mayor’s spokesperson referred to the last hearing as a “kangaroo  court.”   Yet everyone present at that hearing — supporters and opponents alike — knew that when pressed, neither the mayor’s office nor the police department could offer a logical explanation for why a sit/lie law was needed.  Even Chronicle columnist, C.W. Nevius, who is the most vocal proponent of Sit/Lie,  said that “when Newsom’s team members attempted to make the case for the ban, they fell flat on their face.”  So if anyone had turned the first hearing into a “kanagroo court” it was the mayor’s office and police department who wasted everyone’s time (the hearing lasted about 7 hours) by pushing for an ordinance for which they had no legal rationale.

While the mayor and his staff try to blame their lack of success in passing a Sit-Lie ordinance on an obstructionist Board of Supervisors, the truth is they haven’t been convincing anyone with their weak arguments — not even their allies on the Board. Ultimately, not even moderate supervisor and frequent Newsom ally, Bevan Dufty, could support the ordinance in good conscience today.  He voted to not send it to on to the full Board expressing concerns that no convincing case had been made by Sit/Lie proponents as to why current laws were insufficient to address problem public behaviors.

The ordinance will likely be voted on at the Board meeting on June 8.