mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Where I come from, a little green patch of LA by the sea called Santa Monica, the streets and parks are the equal domain of the down-and-out and the well-off alike, the latter of whom are out, more often than not, to exercise. Many of our avenues boast verdant, wide, tree-lined medians perfect for jogging, stretching or — as is the fashion lately — being shouted at by hyper-muscular “boot camp” trainers at the crack of dawn. It’s that last activity which is causing some consternation around here, with nearby homeowners calling the cops and longtime exercisers asserting their right to do crunches where they please — and sometimes getting arrested for it. None other than the New York Times today ran a front-page feature about this problem in my neighborhood:
James Birch, a music executive from the neighborhood, is among those Santa Monicans who have not taken well to enforcement of the law, which was passed in the 1970s and, it is believed, was intended to keep vagrants away.
After 15 years of working out on the median, Mr. Birch arrived there one day in mid-September and saw five officers. “I went up to them,” he recalled, “and said, ‘What’s the deal here?’ They put up these trendy new yellow signs. The cops just looked at me and said, ‘We’ve been told by the watch commander that we’re supposed to run people off here.’ I told them I was going to break the law.”
So he did. One morning he showed up at the median, video crew in tow, and refused to cease doing situps. The exchange that followed was posted on YouTube. “They let me do it for about three minutes,” said Mr. Birch, 63, “and then came over and said: ‘If you continue doing this, I will arrest you. It’s not allowed here.’ ”
Though he was arrested, he said, the officers did not handcuff him, to his chagrin. “I asked them to,” he said. “But they found out they could only do what was procedurally appropriate.” He did get a ticket, though, and now awaits his day in court. “I just want to go and do my push-ups and situps that I have been doing for 15 minutes three times a week for the last 15 years,” he said.
So my question is this: who owns the public space, and how strictly should it be controlled? The homeowners who live nearby, or the local residents who want to use it, as loudly and as early as they please? Are Pilates practitioners the new skateboarders? What do you think?
Photo by Monica Almeida/The New York Times.
Comments (15)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
I figure, Southern California, anything goes. If the homeowners don’t like it, do like me and move to Texas.
Someone tries to teach Pilates on my street at 5 AM the problem will be handled without a sign.
posted by Witty Nickname on 11-25-2008 at 3:50 pm
I would think (not verified) that the Santa Monica stairs are a public easement by now.
posted by NaniD on 11-25-2008 at 4:04 pm
It says that he works out “on the median.” Am I just a Missouri girl who doesn’t know the lingo out there? To me, the median is an island in the middle of the street. What would possess someone to want to do push-ups in the median??
posted by Heather Dawn on 11-25-2008 at 4:14 pm
It would seem to me that this is public property, public meaning the tax payers. If the police don’t move along the homeless people, who don’t pay taxes, the precedent has been set for them to not move along exercisers. However, if a person is creating a disturbance, whether it’s a loud argument with the voices in their head or the encouragement to their clients to drop and give 50, then the police should definitely keep things quieter for everyone to enjoy.
posted by Beth on 11-25-2008 at 4:16 pm
In any public place, including public easements in a neighborhood, there is such a thing as disturbing the peace.
I don’t care if you’re a homeless person or a personal trainer making 6-7 figures. If you’re disturbing the peace, then you can be charged with committing a crime.
posted by gmsc on 11-25-2008 at 4:21 pm
I knew people in L.A. were all wacky, but why do they insist on exercising in the medians? Is L.A. really so crowded that the only open space available is in the middle of a highway? Out here on the East Coast, we exercise on sidewalks, bike/walking paths, the shoulders of side streets, in parks, etc.
posted by Craig on 11-25-2008 at 4:28 pm
As somebody who prefers not to exercise I am offended by these people shoving their hobbies in my face. I don’t want to see it, don’t want to hear about and expect the government to protect me from being offended by it.
posted by Sam on 11-25-2008 at 4:40 pm
We’ve a similar problem in San Francisco. No one minds the exercise — people having been doing that for decades — it’s the personal trainers who have become a problem. Some of our hillier neighborhoods have streets that are nothing but footpaths and stairways and this attracts the “boot camp” trainers and their flocks of clients, and they’re just not considerate users of a shared resource. They block paths, make lots of noise and there have been a few incidents that have almost come to fistfights. Individuals are rarely an issue, it’s always when they form packs that they start acting a little aggressively.
posted by DanB on 11-25-2008 at 6:09 pm
Wait, wait, wait! According to the movie ‘L.A. Story’, people don’t walk or work out in LA! Unless they are in a park on stationary bicycles (and signs that say “no running”). :)
Here’s the thing..there is a law. Not
sure what the law is (disturbing the peace? No loitering?), but if enough people disagree with it, can’t they work to have it overturned?
I am also confused, though, as to why someone is working out on a median…
posted by Dawn on 11-25-2008 at 7:47 pm
Here is a link to some local coverage (click my name)
posted by polaroidgirl on 11-25-2008 at 8:31 pm
That’s just a waste of money.
posted by Taryn on 11-26-2008 at 6:21 am
As somebody who prefers not to read comments, I am offended by Sam shoving his hobby in my face. I don’t want to see it, don’t want to hear about it and expect me to be outside exercising so I don’t have to be witness to it.
posted by Brian on 11-26-2008 at 8:48 am
No doubt those “longtime exercisers asserting their right to do crunches where they please” are the same people that pass ordinances banning skateboarding on the sidewalks.
ReCaptcha: Breakwater Flinn
I’m gonna legally change my name to Breakwater Flinn. It’s catchy and uber-cool, don’t you think?
posted by 8rustystaples on 11-26-2008 at 10:53 am
I think the bigger problem is that it may cause accidents to drivers passing by that may divert their attention to the person working out in the median.
If you are doing crunches in the median, you are looking for attention. The guy making a YouTube video and wanting to be handcuffed further emphasizes that point.
posted by Derek on 11-26-2008 at 10:56 am
Public exercise should be allowed. Excessive noise or blocking of traffic should be regulated against, but you should be able to do a set of situps ona traffic median, for god’s sakes! I know now after reading this story and your blog post why Santa Monica is called The People’s Republic of Santa Monica! It came by the nickname honestly!
posted by Sheryl on 11-27-2008 at 7:35 pm