Sharpton, family seek change a year after Stephon Clark died

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Sharpton, family seek change a year after Stephon Clark died

2019-03-19 06:26 Last Updated At：06:40

Standing beside the family of a 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot by police a year ago Monday, the Rev. Al Sharpton called for California to make it easier to prosecute officers who kill civilians and to require that all cases go before a grand jury.

"The legacy is we're going to pass legislation in Stephon's name, the legacy is that we won't stop fighting for justice in Stephon's name," Sharpton said, referring to Stephon Clark. "You might have killed him a year ago, but you can't kill a movement."

Sharpton spoke on the steps of the Capitol alongside Clark's brother, mother and grandmother, as well family attorney Ben Crump, who is known for representing the families of young black men killed by police.

Two Sacramento officers responding to calls of someone breaking car windows shot Clark a year ago in his grandparents' backyard. Local and state prosecutors announced earlier this month that they would not charge the officers because police thought Clark had a gun and feared for their lives. Clark was holding only a cellphone.

His death prompted intense protests in the capital city, with marchers shutting down a highway ramp and blocking fans from entering the downtown arena where the Sacramento Kings play. It also drew the attention of Sharpton and Crump, who represented the family of Trayvon Martin.

Now Sharpton, Crump and the family are calling for sweeping changes to California laws dealing with police shootings. They're backing legislation by San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber that would change the standard for when police can use deadly force.

The measure says police must have a "reasonable" need to open fire, instead of a "necessary" one. Weber proposed it last year after Clark's death, but the Democratic-led Senate blocked it from moving forward.

Sharpton said such a change likely would have required the officers who shot Clark to show there was no other alternative than shooting him.

He also called for lawmakers to require all police shooting investigations to be heard by a grand jury. A 2017 law requires that grand jury transcripts be made public in police shooting cases when the officers aren't indicted, but prosecutors can decide whether to press charges on their own.

No such legislation has been introduced, but Sen. Steven Bradford said he's in "discussions" about it.

Police unions do not support changing the use-of-force standards and are backing their own measure that would enhance officer training, with an emphasis on trying to calm suspects first.

The California Police Chiefs Association did not comment on the grand jury idea.

The Sacramento Police Department this month released transcripts of the interviews done with the officers in the hours after the shooting. Both described thinking Clark had a gun.

The announcements that they wouldn't be charged sparked new protests, including one in which police arrested 84 people in a wealthy Sacramento neighborhood. District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who declined to indict the officers, chose not to press charges against anyone arrested.

Clark's family has called for peaceful demonstrations.

"Let's march peacefully, because they want us to act ugly," said SeQuita Thompson, Clark's grandmother. "Let's stand tall and proud, for we will get justice one day for all our loved ones."

Behind those who spoke Monday hung a white banner that said, "I am SAC," using Clark's initials as a play on the capital city's nickname.

Venice tests a 5-euro entry fee for day-trippers as the Italian city grapples with overtourism

2024-04-26 00:14 Last Updated At：00:20

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Under the gaze of the world’s media, the fragile lagoon city of Venice launched a pilot program Thursday to charge day-trippers a 5-euro ($5.35) entry fee that authorities hope will discourage visitors from arriving on peak days and make the city more livable for its dwindling residents.

Visitors arriving at Venice's main train station were greeted with large signs listing the 29 dates through July of the plan's test phase that also designated separate entrances for tourists, and residents, students and workers.

“We need to find a new balance between the tourists and residents,’’ said Simone Venturini, the city’s top tourism official. “We need to safeguard the spaces of the residents, of course, and we need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers on some particular days.”

Not all residents, however, are persuaded of the efficacy of the new system in dissuading mass tourism, insisting that only a resurgence in the population will restore balance to a city where narrow alleyways and water buses are often clogged with tourists.

Hundreds of Venetians protested against the program, marching festively though the city's main bus terminal behind banners reading “No to Tickets, Yes to Services and Housing.” Protesters scuffled briefly with police with riot gear who blocked them from entering the city, before changing course and entering over another bridge escorted by plainclothes police officers. The demonstration wrapped up peacefully in a piazza.

Tourists arriving at the main station encountered almost as many journalists as stewards on hand to politely guide anyone unaware of the new requirements through the process of downloading the QR code to pay the fee.

Arianna Cecilia, a tourist from Rome visiting Venice for the first time, said she thought it was “strange” to have to pay to enter a city in her native country, and be funneled through separate entrance ways for tourists. She and her boyfriend were staying in nearby Treviso, and so downloaded the QR code as required. But she was still caught off-guard while soaking in her first view ever of Venice's canals by the sight of the entrance signs and her boyfriend telling her to get out the ticket.

On the other side of the entrance ways, workers in yellow vests carried out random checks at the train station. Transgressors face fines of 50 to 300 euros ($53 to $320), but officials said “common sense” was being applied for the launch.

The requirement applies only for people arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Outside of those hours, access is free and unchecked.

Venice has long suffered under the pressure of overtourism, and officials hope that the pilot project can help provide more exact figures to better manage the phenomenon.

The city can track the number of hotel visitors, which last year numbered 4.6 million and is down 16% from pre-pandemic highs. But the number of day visitors, which make up the majority of the crowds in Venice, could only be estimated until recently.

A Smart Control Room set up during the pandemic has been tracking arrivals from cellphone data, roughly confirming pre-pandemic estimates of 25 million to 30 million arrivals a year, said Michele Zuin, the city’s top economic official. That includes both day-trippers and overnight guests.

But Zuin said the data is incomplete.

“It’s clear we will get more reliable data from the contribution” being paid by day-trippers, he said.

Venturini said the city is strained when the number of day-trippers reaches 30,000 to 40,000. On peak days, local police set up one-way traffic for pedestrians to keep the crowds moving.

Residents opposing the day-tripper tax insist that the solution to Venice's woes are to boost the resident population and the services they need, limiting short-term rentals to make available more housing and attract families back from the mainland.

Last year, Venice passed a telling milestone when the number of tourist beds exceeded for the first time the number of official residents, which is now below 50,000 in the historic center with its picturesque canals.

“Putting a ticket to enter a city will not decrease not even by one single unit the number of visitors that are coming,’’ said Tommaso Cacciari, an activist who organized a protest Thursday against the measure.

“You pay a ticket to take the metro, to go to a museum, an amusement park. You don’t pay a ticket to enter a city. This is the last symbolic step of a project of an idea of this municipal administration to kick residents out of Venice,” he said.

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro declared the launch day, coinciding with an Italian holiday, a success, registering 15,700 paying visitors, 50% more than anticipated.

More than 97,000 others had downloaded a QR code denoting an exemption, including to work in Venice or as a resident of the Veneto region. Hotels in Venice, including in mainland districts like Marghera or Mestre, provided a QR code for visitors to attest to their stay, which includes a hotel tax — accounting for 40,000 of those.

Venturini, the tourist official, said that interest in Venice’s pilot program has been keen from other places suffering from mass tourism, including other Italian art cities, and municipalities abroad such as Barcelona, Spain, and Amsterdam.

But Marina Rodino, who has lived in Venice for 30 years, doesn't see the fee as the cure-all. Neighboring apartments in her residential building near the famed Rialto Bridge once inhabited by families are now short-term apartment rentals.

The corner butcher shop closed. Yet she noted that the new entrance fee requirement will still allow young people to flood the city in the evening for the traditional aperitivo, which can grow rowdy.

She was passing out mock European Union passports for “Venice, Open City,” underlining the irony of the new system, and challenging its legal standing with citations from the Italian Constitution guaranteeing its citizens the right to “move or reside freely in any part of the national territory."

“This is not a natural oasis. This is not a museum. It is not Pompeii. It is a city, where we need to fight so the houses are inhabited by families, and stores reopen. That is what would counter this wild tourism,’’ Rodino said.