City Hall Takes Aim at TEA Party

In May, Saddleback Republican Assembly announced plans to have a TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party near Mission Viejo’s July 4th Street Faire. Organizers say they’ll have a presence with tables and workers throughout the day outside both entrances to the Faire. SRA will present a TEA Party program from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

On June 26, SRA said the 7 p.m. TEA Party location is being moved to the east end of the Faire, near the intersection of Olympiad Road and Melinda Road. The party was originally planned outside the Faire’s west entrance between Marguerite and the entrance to the lake.

On June 22, an SRA official said he received a call from a member of the Mission Viejo Activities Committee. On June 23, he said a representative from the Sheriff’s Dept. (OCSD) called him about the TEA Party, advising that participants should not block sidewalks when they convene for their 7 p.m. rally.

Another SRA member called Mission Viejo Chief of Police Mike Gavin. She said, “I asked him to state his message so we could officially relay it to those attending the TEA Party. He said his only purpose was safety. I said we’d tell TEA Partiers not to block sidewalks, but that’s when I learned city hall’s real intent was to derail the TEA Party.”

Gavin said the city had declared all of Olympiad Road from Melinda Road to Marguerite Parkway was for the Faire’s exclusive use, prohibiting all other activity. However, information coming from the city (including a sign currently on Olympiad Road) states the Faire is between the lake’s driveway and Melinda Road. For five of the last six years, SRA and other groups have put up tables and canopies west of the lake entrance to register voters. No one has previously challenged any group’s First Amendment rights to conduct voter registration or any other political activity on public property near the Faire.

Gavin also said on June 26 that SRA would need a special event permit. The requirement later evolved to a permit for amplified music after he said using a microphone per se doesn’t require a permit. His remarks are contrary to prior OCSD statements that no permit is needed for a political rally on public property for a group with fewer than 1,500 participants. After SRA members made additional calls to Gavin on June 26, he explained that OCSD was placing no requirements on the group, and any requirement for a special event permit for amplified music came only from city hall. He reiterated that his concern was safety.

Why is Gavin relaying a message about a permit from city hall if it doesn’t involve OCSD? If an SRA member hadn’t called Gavin to clarify his message, was the city planning to ambush SRA on July 4 by stating the group’s chosen site wasn’t acceptable and they had not acquired a permit to amplify music?

Although Gavin said SRA could hold its rally along Marguerite Parkway, SRA instead relocated the TEA Party to the east end of the Faire. To move the event from a closed street to a busy thoroughfare would not be in the interest of safety. Within an hour of the phone calls to Gavin, SRA members made two quick trips to city hall to get a permit. The first trip was unproductive when city staff members said they weren’t familiar with any permit form or the need for a permit. As of this writing, the matter of a permit is unresolved because the city employee who handles permits had taken the afternoon off on June 26, and no one else would answer any question or take a message.

City hall has been inconsistent about enforcing its own rules, and it has a reputation for making up rules (and almost anything else) on the fly.

County blogger and longtime watchdog Larry Gilbert responded by email regarding the city staff’s pressure on SRA to apply for a special event permit. He wrote, “Does the Mission Viejo Activities Committee get a waiver for the 4th of July fireworks noise? Do Code Enforcement staff members drive around with decibel meters, and do we have a written policy specifying a maximum limit for noise, or is it simply in the eye of the beholder? What about the summer concerts at the lake? Does the lake board obtain permits? How about the musical performers during Fun With Chalk! What about my next door neighbors? What a bogus excuse in an attempt to stifle the First Amendment! Force them to be consistent.”