Serita is a small town in southern Arizona, about 30,000 people or so. It's also the third safest town or city, third safest uh place in Arizona. The police chief, Chief John Nolan, uh decided that he had a plan to make the city, the town even safer. So on September 25th, 2023, he went before the town mayor and council to propose his plan to them to make the town a safer place. I get an opportunity to talk to you about this median pedestrian ordinance. The primary goal behind this uh for me is safety. Medians are not uh pedestrian friendly. They're not designed to be walked on. um whether they're painted or they are raised. Uh some of these medians have uh cacti, plants, trees. Um some that are not um user friendly if you run into them, walk into them, stumble upon them. Starts out explaining to the mayor and council what this ordinance does, but he never really explains it. It makes it illegal to stand in medians. And he says it's because of safety. There's trees, cactus, they're uneven. Like, nobody could possibly traverse one of these medians uh without certain serious injury or death, which I have to admit I thought was ridiculous until I personally tried traversing one of these medians. Um Oh, it's easier said than done. There's the letter of the law and then there's the intent of the law. And this is true of just about everything that is enforced by law enforcement. You'll see some signage here in a minute about panhandling and things of that nature. It's really not an anti-panhandling ordinance. That would be inappropriate. That's illegal. What it does uh emphasize is getting them off of center medians. Examples of some uh signage that would be allowed. You've got the uh signs up there right now. uh red borders and uh 18 inch tall, 12 inches wide. Uh advising people to evaluate whether they want to give money to pan handlers or perhaps donate to their charity or their cause uh that might uh be able to utilize uh funding a little bit differently. Here is the actual um uh law enforcement sign, black and white. So he says that it's an ordinance to keep pedestrians off the medians. He says it's not an anti- panhandling ordinance. And then he goes on to say, "These are the anti-panhandling signs that go along with the ordinance. That is not an anti- panhandling ordinance. It's only to keep pedestrians off of medians." So, while talking about the intent of the law, he starts talking about panhandlers, which is funny because they're by far not the only people who stand in medians in Serida. There's high school kids that will stand in the medians advertising their car wash. There's people who go out there and put their signs in the median for advertising their church or their business or whatever. Um, there's quite a bit of people that go into the medians for different reasons. And you'll see in a minute here that town officials even admit to fairly regularly going into the medians and they ask, "Well, will I be held accountable to this law?" You may have noticed he said this is not an anti- panhandling law because that would be illegal. He knows that the courts have ruled that panhandling is first amendment protected free speech. This one references the code and this one will be a little bit smaller but placed on certain areas or medians advising people that they can't sit there and simply remain there. The first time they violate it is to receive a warning. The second time, if they're going to stick around and do the same thing, they could get a civil ticket, what I think of as an infraction, a fine ticket. And the third time, uh, can actually be enforced as a misdemeanor. So, the only questions that mayor and council have are, "Chief, will I be held accountable to this law?" And chief says, "No, of course not. this um again there's the letter of the law and the intent of the law and this law is not intended to keep you off the median. Chief Nola, does this apply to the wonderful cleanup crew volunteers that we have in our town for cleaning up being on the medians to clean up litter? No. From my perspective, I had part of this conversation with our attorney uh before the meeting. Um, if you want to read the letter of the law on anything, you can find where um, it could theoretically be enforced without or beyond the intent of the law. So, we would enact I would enact a policy on how this is supposed to be applied. So, that's that goes back to the reasonable rule and if I have somebody enforcing in that area, I've hired the wrong person. Um yeah, I was going to ask something similar because you know I don't like weeds in our median. So if the mayor happened to be in a median pulling some weeds, which I have done before, I will not get arrested. No, you will not be mention mentioned earlier. I see the man out there all the time uh working now. He's got the truck with the yellow lights, but occasionally a branch will grow out and you will see me out there trying to take care of the branch so it doesn't interfere with the travel of a car. Okay, no further discussion. All those in favor signify by I. I I any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thanks, Chief. So, these people just took turns going on the room and articulating why they don't think that this law should apply to them, that this law is not good enough for them, that this law shouldn't be enforced on them. And that should have been a sign to all of them right then and there. If it's not good enough, I if this law shouldn't be applied to me or it shouldn't be applied to you, it shouldn't be applied to anybody. the golden rule, you know, do unto others as you would have done unto you. And multiple people in here articulated, I wouldn't want this done to myself, uh, my friends, my neighbors. I wouldn't want this done to me or the people that I care about. And the the chief gives them the explanation that, yeah, the way that that the law is written, yes, it does apply to you, but that's not the intent of the law. and he even articulates that we can't write the law the way that we intend to enforce it because the courts have ruled that it's unconstitutional. I think that something people might find surprising here is how well uh John Noland articulates that he knows and has studied and understands the law on this and that there are certain things that uh legally he can can and cannot do. And then he proceeds to talk about how he's going to do it anyways. But here's the roundabout way in which he's going to do it while trying to pretend like that's not what he's doing. I went out. I had my sign and I had a microphone on me and my daughter was recording from inside of the car as I went and stood in medians for uh each median, you know, some 10 to 30 minutes at a time, a total of an hour, hour and a half out there standing in medians and walking up and down medians. And I even had multiple people come up and try to give me money. I appreciate it, but I'm uh I'm just trying to piss them off with their no soliciting uh uh ordinances here. told him thank you. But I'm not actually looking for money. I'm looking for a citation. All right. So now I am just going to go over here and pick this weed out of the median. The police did come out. Uh I saw them circle around in parking lots. Um we watched them come up to the sidewalk, peek at me, see who it was, and then scurry back to their cars and hide. And they watched me for like an hour to an hour and a half. And not one of them ever approached me. And and you may look at this and say, "Oh, well, good. Good. They're not enforcing it." The whole reason that I decided to do this is because I did get reports of that they are uh enforcing this, but only on pan handlers as intended. Right. There were eight police officers there. They were there to enforce the intent of the law. They realized though who it was. And uh hey, look over to your left. The police are leaving. They knew that I was there to get a citation to take it to court and get their law overturned. Bullies prey on people that either won't or can't fight back. People say that I was baiting the police that day. And they are absolutely right. I was baiting the police the same way that police bait car thieves. If you're not a car thief, you don't take the bait car. Unfortunately, I've done videos on Cerita before and they know exactly who I am. I might as well have just worn a sign on me that said, "Hey, I'm bait for constitution violators." So, as I see him coming out, I scurry back over to the median to make absolutely sure that there's a video shot of me in the median in violation of their ordinance in the same frame as their police. Three of the four cop cars leave. One is still behind the building. I finally decide I'm just going to go beg for my citation. I'm going to go over and talk to the cop over there and I'm going to ask him why he's not enforcing the ordinance. I'm going to sneak up. Hey, do you guys have a trash bag? Trash bag? Like a little sack or something? I don't. All right. You got any money? Any money? No. Okay. Yeah. All right. I got all this trash. So, just need somewhere to put it. Thorns are poking my hand. Oh, okay. Put it in my evidence bag and throw it away from if you want. See if I have any. Is that a trash out front of the speedway? Huh? Is that trash in front of the speedway? Uh, there might be. I didn't I guess I didn't look. Let me see if I have one. I might. All right. Hey, is there an ordinance saying that people can't be in the median? So, in the median? I believe so. Oh. um kind of like on the sides of the intersection or crossing during the walk sign. Nothing nothing like that. But in the median, I believe there is. Oh, okay. Like you can't stand directly in in the middle in the median. Okay. Like the sides of the road are good. All right. Same thing. Just not interrupt the flow of traffic and stuff like just stuff like that. Nothing not a big deal. But I can't just stand in the median with my sign. No, not in the median. Oh, okay. I was there for like 10 minutes just now. No, I actually do. Um, okay. Yeah. Was it? Thank you, man. Yeah, no problem. Sorry. I uh You know what? Can I keep it in case I find some more? Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Is it all right? Cuz I'm going to I'm going to go through all the medians and pick up all the trash I can find in them. Oh, okay. But it's not illegal to be in the medians, though, right? Or is it? You can't be in the median um or obstructing the flow of traffic like that. It's But if you stay on the sidewalks in the corners, you'd be fine. Well, I want to get the trash on the medians cuz nobody goes in there. Well, they have the town people to do that for you, so Oh, okay. Can I pick weeds and stuff in the median? No, we'll leave that to the town. Okay. But you guys won't enforce it on me, will you? The ordinance? Yeah. Well, if we have to, it distracts the flow of traffic and stuff like that, then we'll address it. We won't necessarily enforce it. Have to enforce it, you know. Just request that you not do that. Okay. What if I keep doing it? Well, then we'll have to get ordinances and stuff like that. So, Okay. Okay. Um All right. So, there's like no exception at all? No, especially with the town employees that and they that's what their job is for maintenance and and streets and stuff like that. So, okay. So, if the mayor were out there picking weeds, you guys you guys would tell him too. You'd enforce it on him, right? The mayor probably wouldn't be out there doing that. You know, I don't like weeds in our median. So, if the mayor happened to be in a median pulling some weeds, which I have done before, I will not get arrested. You guys would tell him, too. You'd enforce it on him, right? The mayor probably wouldn't be out there doing that. So, he wouldn't. No. No. What's the mayor's name? Um Tom. Tom. Yeah. Okay. I saw a city council meeting where he specifically said that he does do that. Does he? Yeah. Yeah. Not aware of that. Yeah. Okay. So, I'm going to go stand in the median then and uh ask for money. Cool. Do what you got to do, man. All right. All right. Have a good one. Am I going to get a citation? It could happen, man. It could. Okay. All right. Please. All right, man. Have a good Can we count this as my warning? All right, guys. Be safe. Yeah, you too. Thank you. I don't think that a lot of people appreciate the horrible situation that Chief Noland puts his officers in with something like this. From what he told us, told his officers, you know, uh you you're not to enforce this on person A, B, or C, and you are to enforce it on person C. And every cop has got to know that that's wrong, right? I think I I think that most of them probably know that it's wrong. But the option then becomes, are you going to do what your boss told you to do that you know is wrong? Uh or are you going to lose your job? People say, uh, you know, there's there's only a few bad cops. It's it's just a few bad apples. Well, when the bad apple is at the top of the food chain, your option is either to do what the bad apple says, go along with the bad apple and be a bad apple or lose your job. And that is the situation that sera police officers are in every single day. Chief Noland is a bad apple and it's an unfair situation that they are put in because so many people in our society even though they're willing to admit there's one or two bad apples refuse to get rid of the bad apple. Not only that, but they promote them to the very top so that they're in charge of all the good apples. In Chief Nolan's address to the council mayor, and really to the general public as well, he says that the medians aren't meant to be walked on. After all, there's cacti, bushes, and trees, and someone could stumble upon one. Uh some of these medians have uh cacti, plants, trees, um some that are not um user friendly if you run into them, walk into them, stumble upon them, and the mayor and council just gobbled it up. But I'm looking at it going, man, either this guy is a total idiot, or he thinks that the people he's speaking to are total idiots, or possibly both. But if you don't think that Chief Nolan's address was stupid, ridiculous, a waste of everyone's time, and an insult to everyone's intelligence, then you also won't think that this next interaction is stupid, ridiculous, a waste of everyone's time, and an insult to the intelligence of the people being addressed. You don't have any money, though, do you? No, I don't. Okay. I only have cards. Okay. I was trying to buy some drugs and stuff. So, all right. Thanks, man. Have a good day. You, too. Hey, there's, by the way, there's trees in those medians, too. Did you guys notice that? Trees? Yeah, there are trees in those medians. Yeah. You realize what a danger that is? As far as like somebody could like run into a tree or stumble upon it. Trees. Um, some that are not um user friendly. if you run into them, walk into them, stumble upon them. Yeah. It's just I don't know with the landscape, but that's that's on the town. I mean, it's even like uneven. It's unlevel. The median some of our medians clearly are uh uneven, etc. Like it's unlevel and there's trees in it. Like somebody could just stumble. If you run into them, walk into them, stumble upon them. In the media itself. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, bring it up to the town. See, that's they just do their their maintenance. I know they have local companies come by to do maintenance on all the the uh medians. Cool. Yeah. I think they should probably remove all the trees and the cacti cuz it's like somebody could stumble upon it, right? Just looking out. I just thinking safety minded, you know what I mean? The primary goal behind this uh for me is safety. So, hey, thank you guys. Yeah, you too. To the two officers I dealt with that day, I don't think you guys are idiots. And it's pretty clear based on your response that you're not. You were very kind in dealing with the absolute nonsense that was falling out of my mouth, but you were also clearly dumbfounded. Like how do I respond to such a stupid statement? Like what? Like the only proper response to what I was saying to these officers is what the is wrong with you? Are you are you just here to waste everyone's time? But these officers are professionals. And so even though you could see on their faces that that's what they wanted to say and that's what the appropriate response would have been, they didn't. And likewise, that would have been the only appropriate response to Chief Nolan's address in city council on September 25th, 2023. Are you stupid? Do you think that we're all stupid? Are you just here to waste everyone's time? Do you not have a job or a family or something better that you could be doing with your life? Most of these videos were shot 3 months ago or more. Besides rulings saying that panhandling is first amendment protected free speech, there are also courts that have ruled that medians are traditional public forums and that governments cannot restrict access to medians at all. Including the 11th Circuit of Appeals, just one step down from the Supreme Court. Three months ago, myself and the people that brought this to my attention also brought it to the attention of the police chief, police lieutenants, council members, the city attorney, city staff, and 3 months later, absolutely nothing has been done about it. Multiple city officials have been told and shown that their ordinances are in violation of the laws. But the thing about laws is criminals don't care about them. Make sure to subscribe. There's more to come on this