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Modesto @ Cafe' is shut down for "loitering" by authoritarians
D.(direct)A.(action)A.(anti-)A.(authoritarians) Collective has been tabling in Modesto (The @ Cafe') in the downtown area for a year or more now & distro's litature to the public, in the return for a conversation, debate, & good clean fun! But today we were met by security & police telling us that we cant "loiter" in the downtown area?
DAAA C.members arrive downtown tonight (Fri.Jan. 28th '05) in it's usual routine skateboarding over between Starbuck's & Jamba Juice a huge bucket full of radical reading goodies, shirts, stickers, books, & posters. Upon arriving we are met by the typical security guy telling us that we are not aloud to lay out our litature anymore & to talk with the officer "over there", he pointed. After moments of discouragement, one DAAA member proceeded to go into Jamba Juice & ask if we were ok to lay out our litature to the side of their business. They gave us the O.K. (in the past Jamba Juice has alway's been nice to us, we have talked with management aswell as employees about who we are & what we do). A cop walks over to us & in so many words say's that we arent aloud to do this anymore & that we have to pack it up. We asked, "why"? Something about loitering, he say's, & begins to do the normal short-attention-span-routine, bad attitude-cop shit. With little resistance & a couple words more telling the cop that what we were doing wasnt loitering & him telling us that we had to purchase something from somewhere in order for us to....ummm....stand around! We left with a couple wise crack's & forgetting to get the officers name & badge #.
I could go into the typical complaining about how we do Food Not Bombs, Mutual Aid (free clothes hand out) & other various projects in attempting to bring the community together, go to a city council meeting & vent, or go down to the Modesto Police Dept. & fill out a complaint form, bitch about why their are no "No Loitering" signs up anywhere downtown, whine about not having enough money to afford a space to rent of our own because rent is so high, make a stencil for a T-shirt that reads "I table info here & all i got is this lousey T-shirt that say's the police told me to go away"!
I will say that we just held a Counter-Inaugeration protest of Bush in the same area that we table at & even the security guard told us that, that was one of the reasons why we were kicked out. The police have been looking for a reason to get us off "our" block for sometime now. They first started with the "we needed a permit" routine & that didnt work because it is public space. The next several times they tried to see if Jamba Juice had a problem with us. Jamba Juice has never had a problem with us.
Downtown Modesto's 10th & J.streets is a haven for the social functions that go on there. There is a movie theater, pizza place, coffee hang out, smoothy hang out, ect.....
All city's have a place where the social like to meet friends, talk about life, & interract with one another. These places are usually in an area such as a downtown. If the city is going to develop a structure that attracts artist's, freaks, hip-hoppers, punk rockers, goth's, homeless, yuppies, working class citizen's, intellec's, & even activist's! Than we say.....WHO's BLOCK?......OUR BLOCK!!!
I could go into the typical complaining about how we do Food Not Bombs, Mutual Aid (free clothes hand out) & other various projects in attempting to bring the community together, go to a city council meeting & vent, or go down to the Modesto Police Dept. & fill out a complaint form, bitch about why their are no "No Loitering" signs up anywhere downtown, whine about not having enough money to afford a space to rent of our own because rent is so high, make a stencil for a T-shirt that reads "I table info here & all i got is this lousey T-shirt that say's the police told me to go away"!
I will say that we just held a Counter-Inaugeration protest of Bush in the same area that we table at & even the security guard told us that, that was one of the reasons why we were kicked out. The police have been looking for a reason to get us off "our" block for sometime now. They first started with the "we needed a permit" routine & that didnt work because it is public space. The next several times they tried to see if Jamba Juice had a problem with us. Jamba Juice has never had a problem with us.
Downtown Modesto's 10th & J.streets is a haven for the social functions that go on there. There is a movie theater, pizza place, coffee hang out, smoothy hang out, ect.....
All city's have a place where the social like to meet friends, talk about life, & interract with one another. These places are usually in an area such as a downtown. If the city is going to develop a structure that attracts artist's, freaks, hip-hoppers, punk rockers, goth's, homeless, yuppies, working class citizen's, intellec's, & even activist's! Than we say.....WHO's BLOCK?......OUR BLOCK!!!
For more information:
http://www.modanarcho.tk
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The Pruneyard Decision says you have the right to do what you're doing.
Read more:
http://www.greeninformation.com/PRUNYARDDECISION.htm
Read more:
http://www.greeninformation.com/PRUNYARDDECISION.htm
Than we say.....WHO's BLOCK?......OUR BLOCK!!!
if it was your block this wouldn't be happening
if it was your block this wouldn't be happening
On Friday January 28th, members of the DAAA Collective took their materials to the downtown Modesto area or 10th and J Street, which is a block off city street outside city hall. The collective has table there for close to a year, and has been a stable of Friday and Saturday nights for quite some time now.
Upon getting there, they were told by a security guard that they couldn’t table downtown anymore, and then the security guard brought a police officer over. The security guard stated that Start bucks had complained about stickers we give out were being put up in their bathrooms repeatedly. The officer told the group that they couldn’t table anymore, and that unless you were buying something, you could not be in the downtown area anymore. The management of Jamba Juice was asked if we could table outside their store, (we table on the left side), and they gave us the ok. The police didn’t seem to care, and told the group to leave repeatedly. He stated that they city didn’t want the group there. The police officer told the group on further prying that he was doing a theft report, and made it clear that we did not want to engage in conversation.
Later, the group learned that some kids coming down town were told that because of the “riot” that happened last week, (the Bush protest), that people would not be allowed to come and hang out anymore. Others were simply told that people were not allowed to come and hang out down town anymore, and that Friday would be the last day that they were allowed to come and hang out.
Upon getting there, they were told by a security guard that they couldn’t table downtown anymore, and then the security guard brought a police officer over. The security guard stated that Start bucks had complained about stickers we give out were being put up in their bathrooms repeatedly. The officer told the group that they couldn’t table anymore, and that unless you were buying something, you could not be in the downtown area anymore. The management of Jamba Juice was asked if we could table outside their store, (we table on the left side), and they gave us the ok. The police didn’t seem to care, and told the group to leave repeatedly. He stated that they city didn’t want the group there. The police officer told the group on further prying that he was doing a theft report, and made it clear that we did not want to engage in conversation.
Later, the group learned that some kids coming down town were told that because of the “riot” that happened last week, (the Bush protest), that people would not be allowed to come and hang out anymore. Others were simply told that people were not allowed to come and hang out down town anymore, and that Friday would be the last day that they were allowed to come and hang out.
For more information:
http://www.modanarcho.tk
Hey, you creative and crazy Mod people! I love you and what you're doing.
First of all, DO NOT let those bastards keep you away from public space. There IS NO reason they should be keeping you away. If they try again, let them arrest you and call in the ACLU. You could also try calling major media organizations (preferably more fair than FUX) who are rather fascinated by Modesto after all the scandals. Next, you can call in your brothers and sisters from other places like Sacto., Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose and Santa Cruz to march in solidarity. Chances are if they think that they are going to get busloads of people like *you* converging on their streets, they will knock off their behavior really fast and not harrass you for exercising your rights.
You ROCK! Keep up the good work.
First of all, DO NOT let those bastards keep you away from public space. There IS NO reason they should be keeping you away. If they try again, let them arrest you and call in the ACLU. You could also try calling major media organizations (preferably more fair than FUX) who are rather fascinated by Modesto after all the scandals. Next, you can call in your brothers and sisters from other places like Sacto., Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose and Santa Cruz to march in solidarity. Chances are if they think that they are going to get busloads of people like *you* converging on their streets, they will knock off their behavior really fast and not harrass you for exercising your rights.
You ROCK! Keep up the good work.
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