Chalk
the Walk
(Not
in Santa Cruz!)
by
Becky Johnson
10-18-02
Santa Cruz, Ca. -- Tim Rinker and I were
convicted on September 27th of using sidewalk chalk on a public sidewalk. Our
playful hopscotching was deemed "defacing the sidewalk" according to
City Attorney John Barisone and the two of us were fined the maximum of $162
each by Commissioner Irwin Joseph. Among our arguments in our defense, we
asserted that while our chalked messages were visible and could conceivably
have some nominal cost for removal, our first amendment right to chalk our
messages took precedent over the trivial and at times fabricated costs to
society to remove erasable chalk.
We argued that if he were to ban our chalked
messages on Pacific Ave., then he must not do so based on content, and that
every girl scout, third grader, and half the moms in Santa Cruz must also be
found guilty of defacing the sidewalk too.
Judge Irwin Joseph agreed. He found us both
guilty, charged us the maximum fine, and by his ruling made hopscotch illegal
in the entire city of Santa Cruz on all public property including the
sidewalks.
Both Tim Rinker and I asked to pay our debt
to society for our criminal chalking by performing community service.
Commissioner Joseph commanded us to perform 23 hours of labor to pay $162,
which is at rate of $7.04/hr. In addition, there is a $35 fee to register for
community service, which must be paid in cash or with a money order. While this
is the equivalent of minimum wage, our crimes were committed in the City limits
of Santa Cruz, which recently passed a living wage ordinance. This ordinance
mandates all city workers and all workers for non-profits which receive city
funding to pay their workers $11.75 an hour with benefits or $12.75 an hour
without.
Tim Rinker, who is firmly opposed to
vandalism, is fulfilling his community service by making a public service
announcement warning children that hopscotching is now against the law. Rinker
returned to court on October 16th to seek a waiver of the $35 registration fee.
"When I was sentenced, I wasn't worried because I knew I would qualify for
the waiver. When I got to the community service court referral program, I found
out that due to budget cuts they no longer offer the waiver for low income
people. So I went back to court to get the waiver. The Judge said he could only
request I be given additional hours instead of a fee, but did not have the
authority to waive it."
So how is a homeless person with no money
ever supposed to pay a fine for sleeping, sitting down, or for begging for food
after dark? They need to panhandle $35 to pay the fee or wind up in jail for
something as trivial as hopscotch.
The City does not deem chalking trivial. Sgt.
McPhillips testified that a person chalking blocked customers from going into
businesses, which reduced profits, which caused declining city revenue.
Redevelopment Agency analyst Julie Hendee equated chalk writing with
"graffiti" and claimed that if it were not removed within 48 hours "there
would be more of it." "More of what?" asked defense attorney Ed
Frey. "More chalking," responded Hendee. Appearing in court to
prosecute Tim Rinker and myself were a total of seven city employees,
presumably all on the clock, spending as much as $10,000 in city funds to
prosecute us.
On August 18th, I was arrested, handcuffed,
booked into county jail, thrown in the drunk tank, and had my bail raised from
zero to $1000 charged with "misdemeanor vandalism." Charges were
later reduced to an infraction "defacing the sidewalk." On October
28th, at 8:30AM I face trial on that and one other chalking crime.
On October 28th, I face two more trials, both
for chalking.