Hurwitt v. City of Oakland

247 F. Supp. 995, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6133
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedNovember 17, 1965
Docket44320
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 247 F. Supp. 995 (Hurwitt v. City of Oakland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hurwitt v. City of Oakland, 247 F. Supp. 995, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6133 (N.D. Cal. 1965).

Opinion

SWEIGERT, District Judge.

This case comes before the Court upon an order requiring defendants to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not issue restraining them from prohibiting a certain parade planned by plaintiffs for November 20, 1965 in the Cities of Berkeley and Oakland.

The Court has determined that it has jurisdiction of the subject matter herein under the provisions of 62 Stat. 932 *998 (1948), 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1343 (1964) and 17 Stat. 13 (1871), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1964).

The five named plaintiffs allege that they are members of a Vietnam Day Committee, an unincorporated association of individuals, who, together with other persons too numerous to designate, intend to and have announced their intention to peaceably assemble and march from the University of California in Berkeley to Maritime Avenue in the City of Oakland on Saturday, November 20, 1965, to communicate to their government and to the community their opposition to certain acts of the United States government — its foreign policy concerning the war in Vietnam — and to petition their government for a redress of their grievances; that on October 27, 1965, plaintiffs duly applied to the defendants — the City of Oakland, a municipal corporation, John C. Houlihan, Mayor and Presiding Officer of the City Council of Oakland, Edward Toothman, Chief of Police, Oakland and John A. Morin, Acting City Manager, Oakland — for a parade permit for their march of November 20,1965.

On November 12, 1965, Acting City Manager Morin denied plaintiffs’ application for a parade permit. In substance and effect the denial ((plaintiffs’ Exhibit #3) is based upon the following reasons : (1) The City Manager’s determination that the parade will be held in darkness; (2) that the plaintiffs and their proposed parade are loosely organized; (3) that there is a probability of civil disobedience by the marchers; (4) that there will be serious traffic congestion; (5) that there is a probability of counter demonstrations by others opposed to the plaintiffs’ views and to the march; and, (6) the difficulties and expense of affording adequate police supervision.

Under the Oakland Municipal Code an appeal lies from the decision of the Oakland City Manager to the Oakland City Council. Plaintiffs appealed the decision of the Acting City Manager to the Oakland City Council, and on November 16, 1965, the Oakland City Council affirmed the decision of the Acting City Manager.

PLAINTIFFS’ CONTENTIONS

In their application, the plaintiffs make the following contentions:

(1) That Sections 3-6.08 and 5-2.05 of the Oakland Municipal Code (see Appendix “A”) are vague, ambiguous and leave the decision as to whether a parade permit shall be granted to the unfettered discretion of the Oakland City Manager, without any constitutional standards to guide his discretion and are, therefore, unconstitutional, in that they deny and are a prior restraint on plaintiffs’ rights of freedom of speech, assembly, association and petition as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and the rights secured to them by 17 Stat. 13 (1871), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1964).

(2) That defendants are using Sections 3-6.08 and 5-2.05 to deprive the plaintiffs of their rights of free speech, assembly and association.

(3) That defendants have acted arbitrarily and discriminatorily in failing to grant plaintiffs a permit in that such permits have in the past been issued to similarly situated groups and in that plaintiffs have been denied the equal protection of the laws.

THE APPLICATION FOR THE PARADE PERMIT

The application filed with the Oakland City Manager on October 27, 1965, asks for a parade permit to hold a protest march numbering from 5,000 to 20,000 marchers, on November 20,1965 between 1:30 p. m., to 7:00 p. m., from the Oakland city border at Adeline Street, south on Adeline Street to San Pablo Avenue, across San Pablo Avenue to Peral-ta Street, south on Peralta Street to 7th Street, west on 7th Street to Maritime Street, north on Maritime Street to the north end of Maritime Street, turn 180 degrees around and march south on Maritime Street to 7th Street and east on 7th Street to a vacant lot at 7th and Per-alta Streets, where a rally will be held, commencing at about 5:00 p. m., and lasting one to three hours, whereupon the marchers will disperse. Plaintiffs esti *999 mate that the march itself will take three and one-half hours. .

The total length of the march is about 7 miles. The first two miles of march will be within the City of Berkeley for which portion of the march the City of Berkeley has granted a permit (plaintiffs’ Exhibit #1). The next five miles of the march will be within the City of Oakland.

The Court notes that the ultimate destination of the march is a rally site at a vacant lot at 7th and Peralta Streets, Oakland. The planned march, however, will pass this objective upon first arrival there and continue beyond it, along 7th Street and then Maritime Street, and then double back along Maritime and 7th Street to the 7th and Peralta Streets rally site. According to plaintiffs, this departure from a direct route to the rally site is designed to bring the marchers along Maritime Street, whereon there are frontage entrance ways to the Oakland Army Base, a point of embarkation for United States Army personnel en route to Vietnam. The rally site at 7th and Per-alta Streets is about one mile from 'the Oakland Army Base.

According to plaintiffs’ Vietnam Day Committee, one of the purposes of the march is to protest American intervention in Vietnam and to “picket the Oakland Army Terminal because the Terminal is an important depot for war equipment and troops bound for Vietnam (and) as such, it symbolizes American intervention in Vietnam. * * * ”

BACKGROUND OF PREVIOUS APPLICATIONS AND MARCHES

The plaintiffs allege that they previously applied on October 5, 1965, to the City of Oakland for a parade permit to march on October 15, 1965 for a similar purpose but that on October 14, 1965 they were notified in writing by defendants, through defendant Morin, Acting City Manager, that their application was denied.

The denial notification (Exhibit B of the complaint) refers to the aforesaid sections of the Oakland Municipal Code and states: “It is my opinion that conflict, violence or other disturbance of the public peace and/or serious traffic congestion may result if this permit is granted” and “consideration of previous activities of the Vietnam Day Committee indicates that acts contrary to the ‘health, safety and general welfare of the public’ have occurred.” The denial, notification adds that certain deviations in respect to the time and route of march, which were proposed at a hearing on October 13, 1965, were considered but did not, in the opinion of the City Manager obviate the basic findings noted above.

The plaintiffs allege that on October 15,1965, following the denial of a permit, they, together with some 15,000 other persons, peaceably assembled at approximately 7:30 p.

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Bluebook (online)
247 F. Supp. 995, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hurwitt-v-city-of-oakland-cand-1965.