‘Hate-Free Zone’ Ballot Drive Founders in Santa Cruz

Voters in this California surf town have turned their backs on a campaign to transform it into an official “hate-free zone,” organizers said Tuesday.

“We got lots of publicity, but no signatures,” said David Silva after a preliminary count showed that by Monday’s deadline the campaign had fallen several hundred signatures short of the 3,700 needed to win a spot on next November’s ballot.

“But I don’t want to whine about it. Overall, the campaign was a tremendous success. It is now on the front burner of all kinds of political organizations.”

Activists launched the signature drive in July, saying this city of 55,000, about 60 miles south of San Francisco, should lead the way in banning hate.

While other cities, including Missoula, Mont. and Hayward, Calif., have established similar provisions, the Santa Cruz campaign was among the most aggressive in seeking to root out hate, prejudice and bigotry from the public realm.

“Hate is like litter,” Silva said when he announced the signature drive. “Our city is a beautiful place to come, but leave your hate at the city limits and just enjoy yourself.”

With the ballot box out of the question, the campaign will now focus on lobbying the Santa Cruz City Council to establish a hate-free zone by fiat, a move that would involve putting up anti-hate signs at city limits and publicizing the dangers of hate crimes.

“One of our main goals was to create safe space, and we’ve begun that process,” Silva said. “We want creativity now. We did the trotting door-to-door footwork for the signatures, now comes the creative fun part on seeing how it will all work.”