UPDATE: On 6/26/2023 FAC and the Society of Professional Journalists sent a second letter to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in advance of their 6/27 meeting reiterating the same points.
This afternoon, FAC sent a letter to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors urging them to reject an ordinance that would make it a crime, punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and six months in jail, for being a “spectator” at “sideshows,” informal car racing events in which drivers and take over large intersections and perform stunts.
Authored by FAC Legal Director David Loy, the letter notes that criminalizing individuals for merely being present at an event, for, as the ordinance states, “the purpose of viewing, observing, watching, or witnessing the Sideshow Event as it progresses,” violates the First Amendment. The County may have the right to engage in “appropriate enforcement of otherwise valid laws against participating in illegal conduct,” but as Loy writes:
The press and public, however, have the First Amendment right to observe, record, and report on events occurring in public, even if those events are illegal. Such reporting is essential to informing the public, exposing or protesting unlawful conduct, or otherwise speaking out or petitioning the government. The draft ordinance would unconstitutionally punish the exercise of these core First Amendment rights.
See the letter to the Alameda Board of Supervisors below.