As far as protests go, Saturday's sit/lie protest may have been one of the more comfortable the city has ever seen. Protesters squatted up at corners around the city in defiance of the
proposed ordinance that would make it illegal to recline, lounge, perch, or otherwise plunk oneself down on the city's sidewalks.
The protest showed that not only homeless people sit or lie down on the sidewalk. So do people who --
according to
the master list of protest locations and activities
-- want to read poetry, play the ukulele, bang on congas, sing karaoke, or avoid getting shot. Yep, you read that right. The Lakeview protesters wanted people to stand up for their right to use public sidewalks as a hiding place when the bullets start to fly:
"How many times have we heard or seen shootings in lakeview? It would be
pretty dumb of us to just stand there watching, so we do the natural
thing by sitting, lying down or ducking behind a car. Well, the SFPD
wants to make it illegal for us to avoid gunfire by sitting or lying
down on a sidewalk. Stand up for your rights not to die. Join me at my
house and tell the SFPD: 'I ain't gettin shot!'"
Thank God someone has finally taken up this cause.
Speaking of getting shot, some protesters set up at another embattled corner: Shotwell and 24th Street. Except here the picketers
exercised their right to sip tea and eat brownies on a public sidewalk.
They
also exercised their right to play a mean game of bean bag toss. (If only the Mission gangs would follow suit, what a peaceful barrio this would be!)
This bean bag tosser happened to be
Chris Carlsson, author of
Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists and Vacant-Lot Gardeners Are Inventing The Future Today! Apparently, there'll be bean bags in the future, too.
Wait here's some outlaw bicyclists rolling up just now!
Someone had also exercised his or her right(?) -- or perhaps just a Mission pastime -- of tattooing the sidewalk.
Moving on, we went to check out the protest on the steps of the Social Security Administration at Valencia and 22nd. Here was an even more rockin' protest with a dozen picketers lounging under a big sign that read "Newsom Lies All Day And We Can't Even Sit?" Well, here they showed, indeed, you can sit. All afternoon.
