Oakland city officials always say they’re serious about stopping sideshows. But the evidence is to the contrary: the City Council has put so many restrictions on cops that sideshows largely continue unabated—even as other cities in the region really are cracking down on these dangerous and illegal activities.
We looked at three cities and compared them to Oakland (population 434,000): Antioch (population 115,000), Modesto (population 219,000), and Sacramento (population 525,000). The latter three cities have largely succeeded in cutting down on sideshows and arresting people associated with them, including spectators. Oakland, as usual, with its “progressive” politics, refuses to crack down on these events.
While it’s true that the Oakland City Council in June, 2023 passed a new ordinance allowing sideshow drivers to be arrested and charged with reckless driving, the ordinance specifically exempted people who gather to watch sideshows—a glaring problem, since without spectators, sideshows would wither away on their own. The council member who objected most strongly to citing spectators was Dan Kalb. It was an odd position for Kalb, who a month previously had said, “Public Safety is and must be a top priority for me and all of us in City Hall. This [new] law will give the City of Oakland the additional tools it needs to protect Oaklanders from the dangers of these ridiculous and destructive sideshows.” But Kalb’s mouth has two sides to it; he preaches public safety and then votes for laws to undermine it.
Kalb insisted that spectators be exempted from the ordinance’s new regulations, under the guise of protecting their civil rights. That resulted in the following language being introduced to the ordinance: “Geographic proximity to a Sideshow, Street Race or Reckless Driving Exhibitions alone is insufficient evidence to meet the criteria to be found guilty of organizing or facilitating.” To make this even clearer, the final ordinance added that “to prove a violation” of the ordinance, evidence would need to be provided “That the [spectator] charged was previously present at a location where Preparations were being made for a Sideshow, Street Race or Reckless Driving Exhibition.” In other words, prosecutors would have to demonstrate “knowledge on the part of the defendant that a Street Race or a Reckless Driving Exhibition was taking place.” Since any spectator could simply deny prior knowledge of the sideshow, this was a get-out-of-jail-free card for them, courtesy of Dan “I care about Public Safety” Kalb.
In Antioch, Modesto and Sacramento, cops and courts are serious about stopping sideshows. Modesto is a good example. The Central Valley city long has been a center of California’s auto-centrism and sideshows have been part of that car culture. But by last year’s Cinco de Mayo, things got completely out of hand. Video coverage on local news showed total chaos, as dozens of police cars rushed to the scene. “The California Highway Patrol arrested or cited dozens of people,” the Modesto Bee reported; in addition, cops seized eight vehicles. Two months ago, Modesto finally and officially banned sideshows.
The new law fines spectators $2,500 for watching a sideshow, with drivers and passengers fined even more: $3,500. The new law, meant to deter sideshow organizers and spectators, seems to be working. There have been no reports of sideshows in the area over the past year.
Then there’s Sacramento. “Living in fear: Sacramento neighborhood fed up with erratic driving as police crack down on sideshows,” KCRA radio reported last November. Sacramento police had been tipped off that a sideshow was being planned. “We set up [a patrol] nearby,” said a police department spokesperson, “and as those vehicles approached, we made safe vehicle stops. The vehicles were towed pursuant to the warrants.”
Sacramento City Council member Lisa Kaplan introduced legislation to increase fines for sideshow participants, including spectators. "If you're out there, even if you're participating and watching, you're going to be fined” with a $1,000 ticket, Kaplan warned. A special committee of the City Council then passed Kaplan’s proposal.
In Antioch, where sideshows already are illegal, the City Council last March voted in favor of “a city ordinance prohibiting sideshow spectators in an effort to reduce reckless driving exhibitions and street racing.” The new “by-stander ordinance would substantially broaden the scope of individuals held legally accountable for sideshows and street races beyond the drivers participating in the event,” a City Council report said.
And then there’s Oakland, where sideshow spectators are a protected class based on their supposed First Amendment right.
There are problems and stumbling blocks in all these ordinances, including opposition from those who claim they violate people’s civil rights—as if criminals have more legal protections than victims. But it’s clear that, if cities are serious, they can reduce sideshows, if not completely stop them. As one OPD officer told me, “We can shut down a sideshow immediately” by surrounding the area with law enforcement able to use such tools as smoke bombs and tire spike strips, and then making mass arrests. But because of elected officials such as Dan Kalb, who talks a good game, cops don’t dare do their jobs. It’s the same old crap: make war on OPD by any means necessary.
Steve Heimoff