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Thousands to march; city to pick up tab

Carolyn Hileman - The Voice* | April 29, 2008 

Thursday immigration-rights marches come as SR drops fees
By MIKE MCCOY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Thousands of demonstrators are expected to clog city streets Thursday in support of immigration rights, just two days after Santa Rosa’s City Council officially drops all fees for large-scale free speech marches.
The cost to the city: $5,000 to $8,000.

The costs are an estimate of having 28 police officers provide traffic control and security along a route that will require shutting down several streets and major intersections to accommodate the march, police Lt. Gary Negri said.

Thursday’s march is actually two marches, both of which will meet up at B and Seventh streets and proceed together to a joint rally at Juilliard Park.

The purpose, said Jesus Guzman, involved in planning both, “is to highlight the need for immigration reform.”

“Mostly it’s to end immigration raids and to have Sonoma County declared a county of refuge,” he said.

The smaller of the two marches, expected to be largely composed of 500 to 1,000 Santa Rosa Junior College students, will begin at 1 p.m. at the college and use the sidewalk until it joins up with the larger march.

The second march, sponsored by the May 1 Coalition, will begin at noon in Roseland and will require the closure of several major intersections and a lane of traffic to accommodate the 5,000 to 7,000 marchers expected to participate along the 2.5-mile route.

The issue of costs came to the forefront two weeks ago when the council considered imposing a $1,500 fee on all marches over 3,000 people, partly as a way to recoup some of the city’s expenses in providing dozens of police officers for traffic control and security for larger marches that spill onto the city’s streets.

Several immigration-related marches over the past two years that drew up to 10,000 participants ran up police-related bills between $3,216 and $12,771, some of which was paid in full, partially paid or forgiven by the city.

The council, in the face of opponents who claimed that charging for free speech rallies was a First Amendment violation, grudgingly agreed not only to reject the fee but to abandon the city’s long-standing practice of charging hourly rates for police services for any free speech-related street march.

At the same time, several council members urged march organizers to restrict future marches to sidewalks when possible — a move that would substantially reduce the bulk of the city’s police costs.

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