The Santa Ana City Council is set to consider an emergency ordinance at its Tuesday, March 19, meeting that would add distance requirements for people protesting at private residences.
An increasing number of picketers in Santa Ana and surrounding areas are targeting specific residences, city staffers said in a report to the council, “expressing their views at the targeted residence and captive audience therein.”
“Targeted picketing not only harasses and intimidates occupants of a targeted home (and other homes in close proximity to the targeted residence), but is intrusive upon those individuals’ right to privacy in their home,” the staff report recommending the new rules says. “This ordinance establishes a clear and precise buffer zone between picketers and a targeted residence so as to preserve Santa Ana residents’ right to privacy and prevent siege upon target residents while providing a space for picketing.”
The ordinance would prohibit targeted picketing within 300 feet of the property line of a residence. If adopted, the urgency ordinance will take effect right away on March 19.
An urgency ordinance can be passed immediately at a council meeting if “made for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety,” according to the staff report. It requires two-thirds approval from the City Council.
For months, community members have been calling on local leaders to take stands in the Israel-Hamas war. Earlier this month a divided Santa Ana City Council became the first city in Orange County to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, as well as for the release of Israeli hostages, and saying the city recognizes a free Palestinian state and Israel’s right to exist.
Omar Z., a Palestinian activist who asked his last name not be used for the privacy of his family, said it would be “hypocritical” of the council if it approved the distance requirement for protestors. He said he couldn’t…
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