Victory Against Jerry Brown's Criminalizing Youth for Watching Sideshows; Next Steps...

Just remember it's still legal to get your ass arrested for driving like a maniac in one of these sideshows. Respect the Neighborhood! Let's get a legal place for these sideshows. Otherwise jack all the cars and have an end to it.

It will not be effective -- it will be very costly and will endanger our community,'' said Wilson Riles Jr., a former city councilman and now a leader in a coalition opposed to Brown's crackdown. "Sideshow has been around since the early 1980s, but there is no record of anyone getting hurt until the police got involved and tried to break these things up." SF CHronicle

This quote by Wilson Riles is exactly why the left looks so stupid to regular people, including East Oakland residents. The idea that there is no problem except the police is patently false. Homicides, shootings, sexual assault, reckless and drunken driving, multiple deaths--- yes its all the police is fault. I'm no fan of the police but lets not put our head in the sand or outright lie about whats going on.

Send in the Riders. They know how to kick butt.

don't be so predictable. the issue is sideshows.

Leftist led the opposition to this stupid purposal. Its just a fact. The proposal lost because it wouldn't hold up legally. The left won despite its its own self-deception.

There are a lot of 9/11 events, researchers and activists in the Bay Area that get no place on this site. It's likely that people would donate if you added a 9/11 page. If you need someone to keep track of it, ask.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/03/1729133.php

"Leftist led the opposition to this stupid purposal. Its just a fact. The proposal lost because it wouldn't hold up legally. The left won despite its its own self-deception."

Generally it's the gas pump hugging righties that support car worship in all it's forms, but because of Oakland's culture of the car, Wilson Riles jumps on board.

Agreed that it is not appropriate to arrest spectators. As one of those bad misguided lefties myself, I know that is no more the answer than allowing sideshows to continue unchecked. But it's a cultural issue and a quality of life issue. It is not a left-right issue. Maybe it's not even a black/white issue, since you have black people in the neighborhood getting killed by sidewshows.

One person's right to entertainment, does not mean they should be allowed to go roaring down the street running people down in cold blood. That's just stupid. Nobody's life is worth some fool teenaged driver's damned entertainment/recreation. But Oaktown kids need something to do to feel positive about themselves. Jerry Brown blew it. He should open the Coliseum parking lot (or some other damn place) to sideshows. There is potential to make a positive from a negative. Just get them off the streets where they and others will get killed.