Beware of loon-induced traffic hazards on Southwest Freeway
The Chronicle runs a story by Eyder Peralta on liberal activists who have taken to making pests of themselves on the Southwest Freeway bridges during the evening rush hour:
Back in the day, many of the activists gathered at the Mecom Fountain, a natural place for a protest: next to a university and a park with plenty of green space.
But here they are today, gathered on the Montrose bridge over U.S. 59 South, one of the most trafficked highways in the U.S.
"I really don't know what else to do," said 60-year-old Robert Graham. "I tried writing our congressmen; I tried having candlelight vigils over at the Mecom Fountain, gone and taking over Kay Bailey Hutchinson's [sic] office. Nothing works."
So he and others stand over the freeway, holding signs about the war, about President Bush, about the environment and about the situation in the Middle East.
It's called freeway blogging, a term that emerged out of California, where protesters hung signs on overpasses and then took pictures to be posted on the Web.
In Houston, where hanging a sign is illegal, freeway blogging has turned six bridges — at Hazard, Woodhead, Dunlavy, Mandell, Graustark and Montrose streets — into Houston's premiere political forum.
"We have to stand here holding our signs," said Don Cook, who organizes anti-war protests. "And people who've seen us from down there stop by to support us or to argue with us."
Peralta's Chronicle colleague Ken Hoffman has complained about the activities in his column and on the radio several times, because of the fact that motorists tend to get distracted by the signs, creating a hazardous traffic situation. Councilmember Michael Berry hinted on one of those occasions that perhaps Council could do something to regulate the signs, on public-safety grounds.
Given the current state of first-amendment jurisprudence, it seems unlikely Council will be able to curtail these activities. And it seems just as unlikely that 60-something hippie activists are ever going to grow up. So, if you're driving on the Southwest Freeway during the evening rush hour, you might want to drive extra-defensively, since some of your fellow motorists may be watching the public spectacle above instead of the road.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/18/07 11:38 AM | Houston Miscellany | Print | Comments (34)
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