Orange County district attorney Todd Spitzer gave a law-and-order lecture in March to go along with loitering charges for 21 arrested protesters, including prominent Democrats, for blocking a busy Anaheim intersection outside the NAMM Convention. Unite Here Local 11 organized the Jan. 24 civil-disobedience action in support of contract campaigns for workers at Anaheim’s Sheraton Park and Hilton hotels, which ultimately lifted wages and benefits.
“As the district attorney, I respect the right to protest, but all of us are required to do it in a lawful manner,” Spitzer said in a press release. “The right to protest is afforded to everyone; exercising that right does not allow anyone to break the law and bring traffic to a complete standstill.”
But Anaheim’s Public Works Department and police treated the planned street closures and civil disobedience as a traffic test run for June 24’s opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which proved surprisingly tame. Documents obtained by the Weekly show the Mouse House expressed concerns, but not out of any feared lawlessness.
Disneyland had a private party the same day for Albertsons Safeway SoCal Employees Association that started an hour before and wanted to avoid any traffic nightmares.
“Hopefully, all of this is good practice for when Galaxy’s Edge opens,” Jamie Lai, Anaheim’s traffic and transportation manager, wrote to police Sergeant James Griswold via email.
“To mitigate any parking issues due to the protest and special event, I have coordinated with Disney to ask if we can push earlier traffic to Toy Story [parking area] or to utilize Simba [parking lot] in the case that the structure gets backed up,” officer David Gonzalez, traffic supervisor, wrote Lai. After speaking with the company, Lai noted that Disney felt comfortable with the plan.
Anaheim police chief Jorge Cisneros gave the final word on the protest his force had been apprised of by the union in an update to the mayor and City Council the day after. Cisneros wrote that the “impacts of this demonstration to the convention were minimal.”
But not too minimal for a Spitzer show trial.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!
Great Job Gabriel. You got it right, Spitzer likes to be center stage with all lights brightly on shining on him.
Gracias!
There’s only so much column space, but let’s not forget that:
Rackauckas didn’t press charges against union protesters who blocked traffic in front of Disneyland in 2008–I was there!
Spitzer is pals with Matt Cunningham, so much so that when Matty made fun of peope killed by police with a terrible teddy bear candlelight vigil blog post, he merely resigned from his OC Parks Commission post instead of having Spitzer unceremoniously remove him.
Why didn’t Spitzer do something about all the Drug Dealing, Marijuana Smoking, Cocaine Snorting at the Orange County Probation Department. He knew what was going on so did that former Orange County Sheriff and NOTHING was done about it. There was that Asst. Chief Probation Officer that Smoked Marijuana all day long and well into the night. she would get Drug Deliveries in Brown Paper Lunch Bags from her Drug Dealers most of them Deputy Probation Officers. There was so much Drug Abuse at our Los Pinos Detention Center that my co-workers gave that facility the AKA/The Lesbian Drug Den, I remember one day as the elevator opened on the 4th floor (my place of employment) and there was 2 very Masculine Lesbians inside and one was GRABBING her vagina and THRUSTING IT at the other and she said “I’ve got the BEET FOR YOU RIGHT HERE”, when I reported their actions NOTHING was done to them but I was TRANSFERRED. That former Chairperson of the Orange County Republican Party, that former Chief Probation Officer use to Smoked so much Marijuana at her residence that her neighbors would call our Probation Records Unit complaining and AGAIN THING WAS DONE ABOUT IT. So you see if you are a member of the GOP, the rules do not apply to you, if one of your friends GET ARRESTED FOR DRUNK, just make a PHONE CALL.