San Diego Vice and the Legal Terrorist Network

Many call it the "Coffee House Ordinance," because it will alter the licensing requirements of, and allow the Chief of Police to regulate, non-alcoholic entertainment establishments in San Diego.

But "Coffee House Ordinance" is really a misnomer since the proposed measure, City Ordinance, 0-2001-7 (dash seven for short) will probably only affect three coffee houses: Java Joe’s, Twiggs, and Claire de Lune That’s because there is a clause in the ordinance that exempts establishments with a legal occupancy of under fifty persons from the proposed permit requirement:

Others believe dash seven is an attack on the growing number of rave parties that occur in San Diego.

No matter. Whatever you want to call it, the issue has thrown the coffee house community, the rave community, and all the conspiracy theory groups to action.

And never was that more evident than on October 21, when I, and over a hundred other people, received a series of bizarre emails just two days before City Council was going to meet and vote on dash seven. They were written by a man who calls himself Il Duce.

"Dear Legal Terrorists, . . . It has come to our attention that Mayor Susan Golding has been using San Diego Vice to ‘enforce’ her hidden agenda against certain kinds of business establishments within the city. Specifically, any business which attempts to provide a safe alternative to the illegal underground rave parties for people 18 years and older."

He goes on to say there would be a protest outside the city building. Afterward, they were to attend the City Council meeting and speak out against the proposal. "Don't make up some lame excuse about why you can't be there on Monday," he went on. ". . . . You people actually deserve to live under a police dictatorship. . . . [But], don't worry about it. Il Duce [will] fight for you when your most basic freedoms are being stripped away by a bunch of power-hungry idiots in blue uniforms. Ciao, Il Duce."

Il Duce’s real name is James P. Castranova II. He is a student at University of San Diego School of Law. He is also the founder of a growing activist group called the Legal Terrorist Network Inc, which periodically releases an email manifesto called The Vindicta, which is what you just read. When he was helping to organize the protest, he sent it out to his subscribers, the press, and the City Council and anyone else he could.

And though the word "Terrorist" may raise a few back hairs, Castranova claims he is not advocating violence; that "Legal Terrorist" is a pun. Most of the members are law students. (Hence: Legal terrorist)

"We’re wreaking havoc in the legal system," he said, "and we’re drawing attention to the cause."

Well, it’s working. Castranova says he caught a cop snooping around his yard.

"I walked outside to see who was foolhardy enough to trespass on Il Duce’s property," he wrote in the Vindicta.

"He flashed his badge and announced that he was from the Criminal Intelligence Unit. I shut the door behind me as an obvious signal that I plan to exercise my Constitutional rights . . . He asked, ‘What's up with this Legal Terrorist group? . . . . Are you going to rush into the City Council meeting and cause trouble? That will hurt your cause, you know.’"

Monday October 23. Noon. 202 C Street Downtown:

There are about 8 sign carrying participants at the protest. It is a quiet affair. They stand against the wall of the City Council building brandishing cheap and typical protest signs. A bum walks up and flashes a sign of his own. It says, "Rich woman wanted."

I shake hands with Castranova and co-terrorist, Kate Reifers (who also helped organize the protest) and a few others. A new protester joins the group. Reifers and Castranova tell him he needs a sign and that he should think of a phrase that will get people excited.

"How about, ‘Protect Small Business," suggests the newcomer.

"I’m falling asleep already," replies Castranova.

Another protester arrives. His name is Mark and he complains that dash seven is flawed on many levels: "I don’t even think the people who are setting up the law realize exactly what’s being covered. . . . One of the council members thought "acoustic" was a synonym for "loud" instead of non-amplified.

Random Protester Comments:

1) "These ordinances give the police the power to say what kind of entertainment you have and what hours you present it."

2) "An un-elected official, such as the Chief of Police, should not have the power to regulate the days, hours and location of operation."

3) "More Big Brother nonsense!"

The council meeting is scheduled to begin at 2pm. I take the elevator to the twelfth floor and sit next to John Rippo.

John Rippo is the publisher of The Espresso, a trade magazine based in San Diego. It was Rippo that alerted the coffee house and entertainment community to the proposed ordinance.

"I walked into Caffe Italia one afternoon . . . . " Rippo says, while we wait for the City Council meeting to adjourn. "I sat down at a table next to two guys from the City Attorney’s office talking about this law. . . . So I started making phone calls, got a copy of the ordinance faxed over to me, [and] published a special edition of The Espresso’s trade page. [Then] I sent it out to all the coffee houses. That’s when it all hit the fan."

In simple terms, A City Council meeting operates like this: an issue is brought forward to the council. Proponents and opponents are each given a few minutes to speak on the issue. The Council discusses proposal. Then they vote on it.

There is another proposed ordinance being covered before dash seven. Holistic Health Practitioners came in force to oppose a proposed ordinance that will put them also under the regulation of the SDPD vice department.

It takes over five hours before dash seven is even addressed and most of the speakers and a few Council members have left. Everyone is tired and the room has the pall of a giant yawn. Nevertheless, they move forward, discuss the issue, and vote on it. Even though some Council members note that they had problems with the proposal, they unanimously voted in favor of the measures.

Probably because The Council members were too exhausted to have a competent debate: Listening to Five hours of irate Holistic Health Practitioners can easily drive you mad.

Mayor Golding points out to the dash seven opponents, That another reading is scheduled, and today’s approval does not mean it is a law yet.

After the Council meeting I made calls to proponents of dash seven. Lieutenant Christopher J. Ball of SDPD Vice Department, who helped draft the measures, told me the motivation of the proposed ordinance is to simplify existing ordinances.

"Currently," he said over the phone, "there are three [existing] ordinances that control entertainment in the city of San Diego. They are: the *Commercial Recreational Assemblage Ordinance,* which covers any entertainment without alcohol. The Cabaret Ordinance. . . . Which covers entertainment with alcohol. And the Dance Ordinance, which covers dance [with and without alcohol]. . . . The proposed ordinance takes those three existing ordinances, streamlines them, cuts some of the red tape, and provides deregulation."

"Is deregulation really your motive? There are rumors circulating that you are trying to cut down on rave parties," I asked.

"OK, let’s just stop for a second," he asserts, a bit annoyed. The Lieutenant already suggested that I might not be an impartial observer and that the media had already twisted the facts of the issue. Our conversation had become mildly adversarial.

". . . Raves are a small part of what we do. We can currently go into and inspect raves in one form or another. We started the process on this ordinance in 1992. It was not to address rave parties. . . . .This whole process started long before rave parties popped up on the scene."

While the introduction to the proposal does state that the intent of the entertainment ordinance is to simplify existing ordinances. But a few paragraphs later it goes on to say: "Whereas, some entertainment venues attract gang activity, drug activity, underage drinking, and curfew violations, such as illegal underground parties known as rave parties. . ."

Police co-compliance officer, Lauri Davis, says that, that section is recent language, and that *dash seven* has gone through numerous drafts over the years.

"Essentially, all this ordinance does is take those three existing ordinances, and reduce them down to one permit so that you only have to get one type of permit, for either a single or ongoing event. . . . If they are operating a rave party or whatever you want to call it; if you are a large venue or charging an admission, [then] you have an impact on the neighborhood. And that impact can call for police services. . . ."

"Have you heard of James Castranova and the Legal Terrorist Network?

"I don’t want to comment on that," she said.

In fact, nobody I spoke with from the Police Department wanted to talk about James Castranova.

When I asked Lieutenant Ball he said, "It’s too bad you’re not in my office right now."

"Why?"

"Because I’d like to show you a fax that James Castranova is circulating. . . . He has gone completely off the deep end. . . . The stuff he has in his fax is absolutely outrageous. If it was printed, publicly, there would be a problem."

"Can you send it to me?" I asked.

"No, I’m not gonna send it out because I’m not sure what . . . . actions we’re going to [take] with it?

"Criminal action?"

"No comment."

I told Castranova about Lt. Ball’s comments and asked if he would send me that controversial volume of the Vindicta. Fearing legal action, Castranova refused.

"I was just trying to be funny." He said, "I even thought it would make him laugh. . . ."

" Can you tell me anything that it said?" I asked

"I was telling a story about how [Lt. Ball] was trying to procure marijuana [for] Councilman George Stevens so he could . . . bribe him into voting for the ordinances. It should have never been construed as anything but a joke."

Well, like almost everyone else in the entertainment community, I too experienced a knee jerk reaction against this ordinance. Whether dash seven gives Vice more and detestable authority over our entertainment community (Big Brother comes to mind) or is simply a tool for condensing existing ordinances, will be determined by how Vice chooses to enforce it.

But I just want to remind us all of this bit of wisdom that is supposed to distinguish free-thinkers from domineering, righteous, morally-imposing, conservative pricks: Knee jerk reactions are wrongheaded.

They are the reason young, Salem women were charred at stakes; the reason four kids were shot at Kent State; and the reason institutions of violent oppression (the Inquisitions come to mind), have thrived throughout history.

So let us all analyze dash seven calmly and competently before hollering, "The man is keeping us down yet again!" through a bullhorn from top of the El Cortez.

The political correctness of dash seven comes down to two questions:

Question1) Why does the SDPD want to regulate non-alcoholic drinking establishments?:

This is important because it is clearly not good for a community when the police have an agenda other than the good of the community. Lieutenant Chris Ball, from SDPD Vice Department, told me that the motive behind the new ordinance is deregulation; that it condenses three existing ordinances and simplifies them into one. I have read the ordinances and he is right. It does simplify. But that is hardly the solitary motive

But whether Vice intent is to unfairly harass local entertainers who are trying to eke out a living leaves to be seen.

Question 2) Is dash seven a good law?:

My politics tend toward the following ideology: "Leave me alone -- I know what I’m doing." But there is another side. The city consists of all types or people. Some are like me, who believe individual freedom is tantamount to human rights; that drugs and prostitution should be legal because they are victimless crimes. Others believe in freedom from the oppression freedom itself can bring. (legally operating a brothel on the block where you are trying to raise a family comes to mind).

Conclusion:

After a comprehensive and objective analysis of dash seven (which includes character studies, a sleepless weekend of techno and psychedelics, a golf round with a trio of conservative pricks, attendance of a dash seven Council reading, and a phone call to my mommy) I will, for the first time ever, in the history of media and politics, present you with -- The Truth.

And The Truth is this: It is impossible to determine the motivation of the SDPD, the Town Council, Mayor Susan Golding, or your goddamned girlfriend for that matter; and whether dash seven is a good law depends entirely on who wants to know.

The best we can do is ask the questions, incessantly. We must ask our senators, our lawyers, our uniforms, our healers, our scribes, and our neighbors: "What is your motivation, you prick?" and, "Is it a good idea?"

That is what matters. That is all we have. That is how we get by.

Originally published 11/30 in the San Diego Reader.