LA CITY NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Michael "Mike" Hunt, Venice Beach boardwalk Plaintiff in 2006 lawsuit vs City of Los Angeles, announces plans for CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT vs City (on behalf of EVERYONE who had civil rights violated at Venice Beach...and that's a HELL of a lot of people!)
[PICTURED: Look for Plaintiff David Saltsburg to be making his first appearance at an L.A. City Council meeting (as televised on TV 35 and http://LACity.org) to discuss this matter with Mr. Parks and whoever else pays attention to stuff like this during Tuesday's general public comment.]
L.A. Daily Blog has learned that David Saltsburg has announced the amount he is willing to settle his civil rights violations for, versus the City of Los Angeles in his FEDERAL case regarding 1st Amendment violations at Venice Beach and inside City Hall Council Chambers during city council meetings.
On March 25, 2006, Mr. Saltsburg was told he could no longer offer his "Zuma Dogg" T-shirts, DVDs and CDs of his own image and performances. Additionally, he was told he could no longer amplify his performances along the Venice Beach boardwalk.
When the performer who was "harassed" off the beach by LAPD cops who were found by a Federal Court on October 21, 2010 to be enforcing those rules in violation of U.S. FEDERAL law (violation of U.S. Constitution) appeared before L.A. City Council to notify them, on-the-record that they were enforcing rules in violation of Federal law, he was ejected and banned upon numerous occasions for things like calling a councilman, "shady" (who has since then been indicted with 32 counts) -- and for calling council, as a whole, "losers" after commenting on how the city lost BILLIONS of pension money in bogus Wall Street and real estate investments. (Garcetti called it "slanderous.")
After years of pleading with the city to restore Venice Beach to Federal compliance, they refused to settle the matter and only made things more restrictive both on the beach and inside council chambers.
Since the October 21, 2010 ruling by Judge Pregersen in favor of Mr. Saltsburg (along with Matt Dowd, co-plaintiff, with his own set of damages, separate from Mr. Saltsburg, who has since been diagnosed permanently disabled by an L.A. County medical doctor and suffered a prolonged streak of homelessness) has been contacted by the lawyer who sued the city over the way they handled the McArthur Park "May Day" gathering.
And as Saltsburg reflects back on what should be a happy occasion, but only feels more emotional duress over how his life has forever changed and how his quality of life has forever deteriorated and can no longer do many of the things he used to be able to do in order to financially survive:
He has settled upon a reduced amount based on budgetary hard times of only one million dollars. When you tell the story of David Saltsburg, and the civil rights violations inside and outside city hall, and a FEDERAL COURT ruling IN FAVOR of someone now permanently disabled, it's not a $500,000 matter. It's a one million dollar matter. The city should have to pay that much for trying to get away with all of this, and for DOING IT (1st Amendment violations on Venice boardwalk...AND CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS...AND THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS PART IS EVEN WORSE, IF YOU ASK ME!!!): So it's not $900,000...it's $1 million. (And I already reduced it from $1.5.)
Not saying you have to offer it. But I know the city has a BAD HABIT of being OVERLY-OPTIMISTIC and UNDERLY-REALISTIC. So I just want City Hall to know where they stand on this FEDERAL matter. Dave feels the city should have to pay a million for trying to get away with it, for getting away with it for four and a half years and the way they handled it over those four years and what happened to Dave over those four years...WHEN IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN...AND MY MOM SHOULD HAVE BEEN VISITING THE SON SHE HAD BEFORE THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES'S TRAMPLING OF THE LAW OF THE LAND! (FUCK YOU CITY HALL...ONE MILLION OR DON'T EVEN CALL ME FOR A MEETING. I'M TOO BUSY LOOKING AT SAILBOATS ACROSS THE OCEAN.)
