And not just hopscotch - all chalk art on sidewalks. Details at the StarTribune:
Drawing a hopscotch board on a sidewalk or street in Anoka is now against the law — one of the ramifications of a new ordinance governing displays on city property recently passed by the City Council.The ordinance regulates flags, murals, memorials, banners and even chalk art displayed on buildings, light posts, flagpoles, streets and sidewalks, parks and other city infrastructure. It's designed to allow the city to protect and maintain aesthetics of city-owned property...Council members asked City Attorney Scott Baumgartner for advice in crafting the ordinance, wondering if there was room to allow certain types of chalk art, such as hopscotch boards.Baumgartner advised adopting an all-or-none approach. Subjectivity in determining what is and not allowed could land the city in trouble. He cited federal precedent that allows cities to regulate the use of chalk art on sidewalks...Rice said it is unfortunate the city needs an ordinance like this, but "it protects the integrity of the city, our community and our citizens and all of that from … more nonsense."
Reading between the lines, I suppose the ordinance is designed to prohibit chalk art on sidewalks supporting or dissing Donald Trump, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez et al, and the children's games are just friendly-fire casualties. Very sad.
This has already been decided at the Supreme Court level. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Ladue_v._Gilleo
ReplyDeleteI don't think they are equivalent. The Supreme Court case involved "signs in the yards of residents." This ordinance is about signs/marks on government property such as sidewalks.
DeleteCities have many bigger issues.
ReplyDeleteI live in this city and know the council member who voted against it. He is the only one who actually has young children.
ReplyDeleteIt is also a city that has a statue of a soldier with a machine gun in its waterfront park.
That speaks volumes about the kind of art the city will tolerate in its public spaces.
That statue is not illegal.
DeleteA child's chalk drawing is illegal.
Idiotic bylaw. But I wouldn't be surprised if some 8 year old got arrested. Some kids were arrested not that long ago in Georgia I believe for running a lemonade stand without a license.
ReplyDeleteGovernment gone wild. Meanwhile, people are losing their lives to actual crime. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young, we used to just use rocks to scratch/draw hopscotch boards on the street. IDK if that would work on cement sidewalks but I wonder if it would get around the ban (it's not chalk after all.) The lines aren't as bright or clear but it worked well enough for playing. (God, I realize this post makes me sound like I'm ancient, when I'm only semi-ancient -- it was the 1960s. We we did actually have toys, not just rocks to play with.
ReplyDeleteI live in South Minneapolis, half a block from where George Floyd died. The chalk art (graffiti, political messages, whatever you want to call it) that are all over the area now would be, I suspect, be far less tolerated in the much more conservative area of Anoka. My cynical read is that they wanted to head off the possibility of having to face messages they didn't like before it happened.
ReplyDelete