A civil rights firm issued an statement to the State Court of Appeals for a “stay of execution” of an injunction given by West Sacramento-based Raley’s — eradicating the rights of free speech of an all-volunteer community group called “Save Our Suisun”, in which they’re seeking signatures to recall members of the Suisun City Council such as Suisun Mayor Pete Sanchez.
In his motion of what could be a landmark case, civil rights lawyer Mark Merin stated to the Court of Appeal (First Appellate District) that Solano County Judge Paul Beeman’s decision almost three weeks ago was a mistake, and that Raley’s choice to forbade members of “Save Our Suisun” (SOS) may completely “doom” the petition donation.
“Riley’s … had no right to maintain an action to exclude defendant and its members from gathering signatures on the common walkway adjacent to Raley’s” said Merin.
He also continued that Raley’s is the one and only grocery store located in Heritage Mall — the only shopping mall there — barring expressive activity in what may be the only real public place “irreparably injure(s)” Save Our Suisun and “dooms the citizen effort”.
Merin went on Raley’s not having the right to bring an action on the public area in front of the store because Raley’s don’t have the classic area used by all shoppers of the center. Save Our Suisun said it’d reduce its activities to not interfere with Raley’s operation.
The reason behind this petition is because SOS seeks not only to recall Sanchez, but also council members Jane Day and Michael Hudson — believing that these people risked public safety by approving a Wal-Mart SuperCenter close to Travis Air Base over opinions of air safety experts that includes the County Airport Land Use Commission and CalTRANS.
SOS also said that these council members lost the public trust through increasing their own compensation plans by 118 percent, making ambiguous loans, and several more deals with taxpayers monies.
Merin noted that the group has until August 8 to get enough signatures to put the matter on the ballot.
Source: aclu-sacramento@comcast.net
