Secrets of the City

All ur sidewalks are belong to us.

For future reference, you need to have a grand front porch, a car port, and tea without sugar by request only before you can use the term “cut the grass.”

The proper Northern term is “mow the lawn.”

The sidewalks thing is unconscionable. Could it really happen? I’d imagine it would piss off a lot of people (like me).

It’s Minneapolis. Not only can it happen, but it probably will. And go go my council member opposing it. w00t!

“give them to Republicans?”

Seems like a strange spin since this plan was concocted from the chambers of Minneapolis City Hall by Schiff and Ostrow.

Unless, of course, the Lefty Star Chamber has rolled over for every Republican Party whim, which seems mihgty unlikely.

Well, “give them to Republicans” is the short term plan. As Schiff and Gordon point out in the interview, the first use of this ordinance is likely to assign sidewalks permits to the GOP for the upcoming convention.

The longer term plan? Who knows?

Just got this note from Gary Schiff:

In an 11-2 vote, the City Council adopted a revised resolution today that lays out a permit process for groups planning to hold demonstrations that would block pedestrians from city sidewalks or crosswalks.

The sidewalk permit process is modeled after a similar policy in Washington D.C. and calls for groups planning public assemblies that block other pedestrians from using sidewalks and crosswalks to voluntarily register the gathering with the city.

A motion made by Council Member Elizabeth Glidden (Eighth Ward), successfully limited the new rules to the duration of the Republic National Convention, September 1st  4th, 2008.

While I dont agree that we need to create sidewalk protest permits, I am pleased that it is not permanent, Council Member Gary Schiff said. Schiff joined Council Member Cam Gordon (Second Ward) in casting the two dissenting votes. Sidewalks are for everyone, and police have adequate powers to separate groups if a conflict arises. Reserving a sidewalk for any one group raises questions about access for people who live, work and shop nearby.

On Tuesday, Council Members Schiff and Gordon held a press conference with the American Civil Liberties Union, Women Against Military Madness and ACORN opposing the proposed language. AFSCME Council 5 and the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation have sent letters to the City Council expressing their opposition. The Star Tribune editorial board urged the council not to adopt additional permits and wrote The plan would create a strange new environment in which organizations might try to preempt each other’s protests — say, on the sidewalk in front of a convention hotel.

Portions of the resolution dealing with police process for crowd dispersal were sent back to the Public Safety & Regulatory Services committee for additional discussion.

thats quite queer!only in America they say!