What is Barrio Libre???
WHY?
This summer marked a dramatic return of violence to the Mission District with night time gunfire, thefts & assaults and weekly homicides. Violence and hopelessness have become ways of life. People are shot and killed in broad daylight, and nothing is done about it. We will be advocates for this neighborhood. We will challenge the status quo. We work for a Barrio Libre (Neighborhood Freedom).
We can stand up and work together to end the violence. Small acts matter. Clean the streets. Paint over graffiti. Call when you see suspicious activity. Your involvement can save lives. Have courage. Take the freedom to walk the streets without trash, without fear, without violence. Together we can make our neighborhood safe, a place of faith, hope and love.
WHERE?
Cesar Chavez to 21st, Mission to Bryant
This summer marked a dramatic return of violence to the Mission District with night time gunfire, thefts & assaults and weekly homicides. Violence and hopelessness have become ways of life. People are shot and killed in broad daylight, and nothing is done about it. We will be advocates for this neighborhood. We will challenge the status quo. We work for a Barrio Libre (Neighborhood Freedom).
We can stand up and work together to end the violence. Small acts matter. Clean the streets. Paint over graffiti. Call when you see suspicious activity. Your involvement can save lives. Have courage. Take the freedom to walk the streets without trash, without fear, without violence. Together we can make our neighborhood safe, a place of faith, hope and love.
WHERE?
Cesar Chavez to 21st, Mission to Bryant
posted by Nate Millheim at 12:24 PM
2 Comments:
Thank you in advance for the opportunity to be frank and forthright regarding this matter. If you would please thoroughly study this correspondence that you may understand and respond appropriately.
As concerned individuals we participate in the potentially hazardous task of removing litter and illegal dumping on public space and thoroughfares, as well as graffiti, unlawful signs and handbills attached to public fixtures. You personally play a key role; please do not affix any sign to any property in violation of the law. Your 8 1/2 x 14 inch “OUR NEIGHBORHOOD – WHAT WE DO MATTERS” signs attached with staples to wooden utility poles, are a blatant trespass and harmful misuse, recognized by the law as a public nuisance and criminal misdemeanor in particular instances.
Perhaps you haven’t considered this or you disagree, feeling your personal aims justify the means; nonetheless after extensive public hearings our federal, state and local elected representatives enacted laws to protect our community interests as well as our public and personal property from misuse such as yours. Like litter and graffiti, your and other illegal signs visually pollute our living space and are thus more intrusive than junk mail or Internet spam. They victimize the rest of us by forcing us to live in degrading conditions while conveying a potent message of ‘anything goes’ and ‘no one cares’ that other thoughtless people emulate, thereby perpetuating blight and disorder. James Wilson points out in his book “Thinking About Crime”:
“Vandalism can occur anywhere once communal barriers - the sense of mutual regard and the obligations of civility - are lowered by actions that seem to signal that ‘no one cares’.”
In addition to being incompatible with community goals and aesthetic standards, your abuse diverts public resources to maintenance and code enforcement. The Planning Code, Chapter 6, “SIGNS” clearly convey the principles behind the law and our own objective:
“To safeguard, enhance and protect the public investment in and the character and dignity of public buildings, open spaces and thoroughfares; to protect the distinctive appearance of our community...to provide an environment which will promote the development of commerce, to encourage sound practices and lessen the objectionable effects of competition in respect to size and placement of signs; to reduce hazards to motorists and pedestrians traveling on the public way; and thereby to promote the public health, safety and welfare."
The California Resource Agency, responsible businesses, Bay Area conservation and planning organizations, nonprofit organizations dedicated to low-moderate income housing, each endorse the fact that existing neighborhoods must be adequately maintained and cared for to remain desirable places to live and work. A ‘sense of order’ is important not only to those who live and work in a particular area or neighborhood, but equally to those traveling through on their way home, to shop, to jobs, or simply out to enjoy the urban landscape.
It is essential for all of us to realize that the methods we employ are far more important than the objective(s) we hope to achieve, for the reason that the rest of us must live with the methods, whereas the objective(s) may not be realized or be merely short-lived. Therefore be advised to place your promotional material on individual doormats and on bulletin boards in markets, coffeehouses and Laundromats, place ads in local newspapers, and utilize the Internet such as CRAIGSLIST. While these alternatives may prove more expensive or time consuming for you, they are effective, more importantly, they do not infringe on the rights of others, blight our community, deface and / or damage property, and violate the law.
We invite you to join in cultivating a quality living environment. Together we can sustain a ‘sense of order’ and thereby enhance social and economic wellbeing and quality of life for all. You see, ‘CULTURE’ embraces more than merely art, music and literature; it really is a cultivating of goodness. ‘CULTURE’ means that. Each of us contributes personally to cultural growth or to social decay; our society and physical environment is the end product. To change society we must change – not the other way around. Our personal care for the environment enhances community by improving quality of life and personal wellbeing. Naturally people feel better and treat one another with greater respect and consideration, contributing, again, to a cultivating of goodness. Philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer, John Dewey, stated this regarding personal freedom:
“The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worthwhile. The commonest mistake made about freedom is to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity.”
Said another way: With a clear understanding and sensitivity, one can do what one likes, for one comprehends what is the right thing to do. In this way we live as creative human beings – not perfect human beings, but creative human being, which is vastly different.
THIS SET OF LAWS WERE ENACTED TO PROTECT COMMUNITY INTERESTS
ARTICLE 2 – CALIFORNIA PENAL CODE: UNLAWFULLY PLACING SIGNS ON PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTY – SECTION 556: It is a misdemeanor for any person to place or maintain, or cause to be placed or maintained without lawful permission upon any property of the State, or of a city or of a county, any sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device which is used for the purpose of advertising or which advertises or brings to notice any person, article of merchandise, business or profession, or anything that is to be or has been sold, bartered, or given away. SECTION 556.1: It is a misdemeanor for any person to place or maintain or cause to be placed or maintained upon any property in which he has no estate or right of possession any sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device which is used for the purpose of advertising, or which advertise or brings to notice any person, article of merchandise, business or profession, or anything that is to be or has been sold, bartered, or given away, without the consent of the owner, lessee, or person in lawful possession of such property before such sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device is placed upon the property. SECTION 556.3 PUBLIC NUISANCE: Any sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device placed on any property contrary to the provisions of Section 556 and 556.1 is a public nuisance. SECTION 556.4. For purposes of this article, information that appears on any sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device such as, but not limited to, the following, may be used as evidence to establish the fact, and may create an inference, that a person or entity is responsible for the posting of the sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device. (a) The name, telephone number, address, or other identifying information of the owner or lessee of property used for an activity or event, or other identifying information of a sponsor or promoter of a sporting event, concert, theatrical performance, or similar activity or event.
CALIFORNIA TRAFFIC MANUAL, CH. 4 SIGNS 4-01.3: No traffic sign or its supports shall bear any message that is not essential to traffic control. Any unauthorized sign placed on highway right of way constitutes a public nuisance and shall be removed.
CALIFORNIA PUC, RULE 34, FOREIGN ATTACHMENTS, OF GENERAL ORDER (GO) 95: [RE: Wooden Utility Poles] No unauthorized attachments of signs, posters, banners, decorations, wires, or any other equipment foreign to the purpose of supply, street light, or communication poles.
CALIFORNIA OUTDOOR ADVERTISING ACT, SECTION 5460, 61, 64: Misdemeanor and a public nuisances for any person to place or cause to be placed, any advertisement within 660 feet of right-a-way or on private property without the lawful permission.
FEDERAL OUTDOOR ADVERTISING ACT, SECTION 131: Prohibiting the erection and maintenance of advertising signs within 660 feet of Interstate and other Federal-aid primary system in order to protect the public investment in such highways, “to promote the safety and recreational value of public travel, and to preserve natural beauty”.
STATEMENT FROM OWNERS OF PRIVATE UTILITY FIXTURES: “...attached material pose serious work hazards to our employees. Also, the use of nails, staples, and other attachment materials results in additional maintenance on the affected facilities. Accordingly, we have adopted a firm policy of not permitting the attachment of these materials to utility poles or other facilities.” “The United States Supreme Court made it clear that third parties have no legal right to use utility property to communicate message to the public [Pacific Gas and Electric Company v. Public Utilities Commission, 475 U.S.1 (1986). Also the placement of signs, pictures, and other forms of advertising on private property without the owner’s permission is restricted under California law, (Penal Code Sections 556.1 and 593).”
thank you for this. it's great.
why though, would you stop it at 21st street?
16 - 20th streets are still this neighborhood, no?
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