Page One  New: ACLU Opposes Anti-Sitting Measure: Letter to the
Berkeley City Council  By Alan Schlosser, Legal Director Monday
July 09, 2012 - 06:19:00 PM  I am writing on behalf of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU).
Today the Berkeley City Council will be presented with an anti-
sitting ballot measure proposal. The ACLU opposes this measure
as an infringement of civil rights and civil liberties. and
calls on the members of the Council to reject it.  There are
already numerous ordinances in the Berkeley Municipal Code that
give the police power to confront people who are engaged in
disruptive street behavior. There are ordinances prohibiting the
obstruction of sidewalks and entrances to buildings (BMC
§13.36.0I0; BMC §13.36.020), the solicitation of illegal drugs
(BMC §13.36.090),and aggressive panhandling CBMC §13.37.020).
The presence of all of these laws against the activities that
are actually disruptive calls into question the need for, and
purpose of, a law against sitting