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Car birthday parades and drive-thru celebrations banned in Santa Clara County

Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,841
For weeks, people across the Bay Area have lined up in car parades to celebrate birthdays, show off classic vehicles and cheer up neighbors — sometimes driving alongside members of law enforcement agencies and local officials, who joined in celebrations like the one honoring "Rosie the Riveter" on her 100th birthday last month.

But those gatherings are now expressly forbidden in Santa Clara County, according to new guidance issued by local officials — much to the chagrin of community members and school districts who had planned their own upcoming drive-by celebrations in lieu of traditional pomp and circumstance.

"The reality is that the rule has always been there, the prohibition has always been in place — but we recognize the issue was not clear to some people," deputy Santa Clara County executive David Campos said Wednesday.
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"Parades, ceremonies, and similar gatherings with people outside your household are not allowed, even if everyone stays in their cars," the county now states on its website. As of Wednesday, Santa Clara County's Public Health Department was the only one in the Bay Area that had added this language to its shelter in place guidance.
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The prohibition has surprised — and frustrated — some residents, suddenly restricting one of the few ways that people have been able to act collectively since the county's shelter in place order went into effect in March. In several cases, law enforcement agencies have themselves joined in the car parades and drive-by celebrations.

The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, for instance, has led dozens of special driving birthday celebrations for children in the community since the county's shelter-in-place order took effect, documenting the caravans on Youtube. On April 20, San Jose Police Department Chief Eddie Garcia, along with City Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco, showed up at the socially-distanced 100th birthday party for Mary Fierros, the original "Rosie the Riveter."
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Because of the challenges of enforcing the order — which is already littered with gray areas — Garcia said, the San Jose Police Department is refraining from issuing misdemeanor citations for violations in favor of stern warnings.

"We're letting serious criminals out of our jails, and you expect me to threaten to cite and arrest otherwise law-abiding citizens for just walking on the street?" Garcia said, referencing jail de-population measures that have been taken to lower the risk of spreading coronavirus. "That's not credible, and that's not going to happen."
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The ban also vexed some school districts that had hoped to host drive-through graduation ceremonies. San Jose's East Side Union School District, for instance, had planned to partner with the Berryessa Flea Market to host a ceremony in the parking lot.
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www.mercurynews.com

Drive-through graduations, celebrations forbidden in Santa Clara County

Car celebrations are banned, the county clarified this week, frustrating both law enforcement and school districts.
www.mercurynews.com www.mercurynews.com

I've witnessed these first hand and have been in awe with how a community has banded together with a creative solution to help make kids happy on their birthday. We've even been on the receiving end on one as well. It seems like a great way to cheer someone up while at the same time maintaining social distancing with people staying in their cars. I also believe a lot of these got the idea from the police who I've seen at least one city mention to reach out to them and they would do a special drive by celebration for your kid. Clearly even in the article the police seem to be okay with the idea of these.

I feel that declaring this is one area where they might be pushing it a bit too far and so far has only been declared by one county. I'm sure some people will reply that it's non essential, but I'm not seeing the harm if everyone is staying inside their cars for a drive by that takes only a few minutes at the most and might help cheer people up on what should be normally a happy occasion. What seemed more harmful was witnessing today a lot of people at a grocery store with masks on that weren't covering their nose. I guess I'm a bit bitter cuz I saw the last one planned in our area was cancelled because of this and feel bad for the kid that everyone else got one but they won't now.
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,246
If everyone stays in their cars, then this shouldn't be a big deal. It isn't a big deal. I understand that there's some sort of temptation to say that since it's technically a gathered crowd and people might be tempted to leave their cars, but we consistently have video proof that they're just literally driving through, so ehh, let them drive through.
 
Phantom

Phantom

Writer at Jeux.ca
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,446
Canada
People are already on edge and you stop them even trying to have a social life. Expect even more violence soon.
 

Deleted member 21709

User requested account closure
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Oct 28, 2017
23,310
TheMadTitan said:
If everyone stays in their cars, then this shouldn't be a big deal. It isn't a big deal. I understand that there's some sort of temptation to say that since it's technically a gathered crowd and people might be tempted to leave their cars, but we consistently have video proof that they're just literally driving through, so ehh, let them drive through.
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No. Ban it. Stay home.
 
Kevers

Kevers

The Fallen
Oct 29, 2017
14,575
Syracuse, NY
I kind of have 2 opinions on the matter since experiencing it a multitude of times in just the last 2 weeks. I understand people need some way to get out and celebrate and bring some joy to their friends and family but I also can't stand the traffic jams these have caused in my neighborhood along with all the fucking noise.

I'm not enough of a hardass to actually get super upset about it but I was late getting to work 2 times because the entire block was just a train of cars going in circles in front of my neighbors house.
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,246
inguef said:
No. Ban it. Stay home.
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Unless you want police and military on every street, that's not going to work because people are going to want to go outside. Hell, I've been craving to do nothing but just take a drive around town for a few hours.

There's nothing wrong with someone driving by someone's house, with them not exiting their car and that someone not even leaving their porch. This isn't the park, this isn't the beach, this isn't a block party.

They can drive by and go home just like people in cities with some verticality can have communal jam sessions on their balconies.
 
Typhon

Typhon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,115
People's are going to be so desperate for human contact when this shit is over I think we might see orgies in the streets.
 
Juice

Juice

Member
Dec 28, 2017
555
Officials should really be choosing their battles over health & economic risk. If this doesn't hurt anybody, but it's against the letter or spirit of a law or order, then they should have the foresight to way the risk that this will burn goodwill that they're going to need if they're successful
 
hateradio

hateradio

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,750
welcome, nowhere
Tapiozona said:
Because it's the paraders or because of the city council?
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Myriad of reasons.

Most of which has to do with the apolitical atmosphere of the area.

The county and its cities want to perpetuate the infusion of tech jobs. Santa Clara has Google, Apple, LinkedIn, etc., all within its boundaries, but has absolutely zero interest in up-zoning, moving to dense housing, providing public housing, building sustainable new housing, adding any commuting trains beyond light rail or BART to Downtown SJ, which who would even wants that when it's not going in the peninsula to SF?

It's just a shitty place with a really myopic bubble of tech people.

Rents keep going up, people at non-tech jobs keep getting pushed out, and no one is doing anything about it.
 
BringBackSonics

BringBackSonics

Member
Oct 27, 2017
45,239
Seattle
This is what happens when County officials don't think.

My wife is going around to each of her student's houses tomorrow just to let them know that she is there for them.
 
overcast

overcast

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,427
I've been waken up by one of these and had the good sense not to get upset because they're making some kid happy. It seems perfectly safe.
 
TAJ

TAJ

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
12,446
This is just silly.
That said, driving more means gassing up more. Be extra-careful at gas stations. Every part of those pumps is probably a virus festival.
 
OP
OP
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,841
TAJ said:
This is just silly.
That said, driving more means gassing up more. Be extra-careful at gas stations. Every part of those pumps is probably a virus festival.
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Well one perk with staying at home means I don't have to gas very often. When I do though, I pretty much put on gloves, fill it up, finish and then throw away the gloves before getting into my car again since I agree that I bet there's a higher risk there on the pumps. So ya, everyone should be extra careful around gas stations.
 
Zorg1000

Zorg1000

Banned
Jul 22, 2019
1,750
TheMadTitan said:
If everyone stays in their cars, then this shouldn't be a big deal. It isn't a big deal. I understand that there's some sort of temptation to say that since it's technically a gathered crowd and people might be tempted to leave their cars, but we consistently have video proof that they're just literally driving through, so ehh, let them drive through.
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I've personally seen people people getting out of their cars and gather in the persons yard during these parades. I saw it in my neighborhood about a week ago while walking my dog.
 
The Grizz

The Grizz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,457
I'm a firefighter and we have scheduled birthday drivebys most every day. I have no issue if they are for children celebrating their birthdays, but do take issue when they are 30+ year old women who have a firefighter fetish OR when their friends schedule them to embarrass each other. It's a waste of our time and takes time away from what we really need to be doing.

Anecdotally speaking, there is nothing better than driving the engine, along with a parade full of cars past a child's house and seeing the pure joy in everyones face. It's what being a community is all about.
 
iareharSon

iareharSon

Member
Oct 30, 2017
8,940
I live in Santa Clara County, and I wonder if this might be in response to an uptick in sideshows in the area since the Shelter in Place went into effect.
 
Dultimate

Dultimate

Member
Oct 27, 2017
652
Zorg1000 said:
I've personally seen people people getting out of their cars and gather in the persons yard during these parades. I saw it in my neighborhood about a week ago while walking my dog.
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Yeah...and?
You think every single person in that county is abiding by the social distancing guidelines? What they should be doing is encouraging people to make sure they're not doing that when they are given the leeway to do the parades. Not being assholes and shutting down an outlet for some.
The poster that said they caused a traffic jam also has a point. Encourage people to do this outside of traffic hours in order to impact as few people negatively as possible.

Letter-of-the-law types really grinds my gears.
 
Zorg1000

Zorg1000

Banned
Jul 22, 2019
1,750
Dultimate said:
Yeah...and?
You think every single person in that county is abiding by the social distancing guidelines? What they should be doing is encouraging people to make sure they're not doing that when they are given the leeway to do the parades. Not being assholes and shutting down an outlet for some.
The poster that said they caused a traffic jam also has a point. Encourage people to do this outside of traffic hours in order to impact as few people negatively as possible.

Letter-of-the-law types really grinds my gears.
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And nothing. The person I quoted said there is video proof that people are literally just driving through, all I did was point out thats not always the case.

I personally think these parades are great, Im having one on Tuesday for my sons 5th birthday.
 
OrangeNova

OrangeNova

Member
Oct 30, 2017
12,658
Canada
Living in a single unit majority neighborhood, I could see this being cute, and happening, maybe once a week at most.

I live in an apartment complex surrounded by 8 other apartments, and it's at least twice a day people are driving around honking non stop. My heat is still on(Can't control it) So I need to have the windows open to not overheat, and it's driving me insane.

(Edit: I don't live in the affected area, just giving my two cents on why it might have been banned)
 
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Deleted member 4367

User requested account closure
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OrangeNova said:
Living in a single unit majority neighborhood, I could see this being cute, and happening, maybe once a week at most.

I live in an apartment complex surrounded by 8 other apartments, and it's at least twice a day people are driving around honking non stop. My heat is still on(Can't control it) So I need to have the windows open to not overheat, and it's driving me insane.
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I am so sorry to hear that. I can't even imagine.
 
stersauce

stersauce

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 28, 2017
3,766
san jose, ca
people have been doing this almost daily in east san jose, which is why i'm assuming they came out and banned this

or maybe east side is just a different beast and this is unrelated
 
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