13-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Biden slogan costs San Ramon $120,000
The city of San Ramon has paid $120,000 to settle a suit by an activist who was criminally prosecuted in 2021 after projecting the words Build Back Better, President Joe Biden's label for his proposed economic and environmental legislation, onto the wall of City Hall.
Alan Marling of Livermore was held by San Ramon police after refusing their order to take down his message. After a brief detention, he was charged with creating a public nuisance by posting a sign on city property and with obstruction of a public right-of-way. Superior Court Commissioner Jill Lifter acquitted him of both charges after a non-jury trial, saying his message was not a sign and did not block the sidewalk.
Marling's civil suit accused San Ramon of violating his constitutional rights by illegally arresting him and threatening to confiscate his light projector. The city did not concede any violations in the settlement but has paid him $120,000, which includes his legal expenses in the case, attorney Donald Wagda said Monday.
His actions 'did not break any law then in effect, and he never should have been criminally prosecuted for his speech,' Wagda said.
For a short time on an evening in November 2021, before being halted by police, he shined #BuildBackBetter on the front wall of City Hall, above a stream of the legislation's goals: 'Affordable care, child meds, paid leave, green energy.'
Marling said he wasn't trying to send a message to the city of San Ramon, which was not involved in the federal legislation, but only to use the wall, widely visible from the street, to urge the public to support Biden's plan.
The settlement is 'as much of an apology as I'm going to get for infringing my freedom of speech, hopefully discouraging them from taking similar actions in the future,' he said.
San Ramon City Attorney Martin Lyons said the city disagreed with Commissioner Lifter's ruling that Marling committed no violations but has reworded its ordinances to make them clearer. San Ramon agreed to the settlement after considering the costs of litigation and "the best interests of the City and its constituents," Lyons said.
Build Back Better was a legislative package that included increases in health care programs for the poor and elderly, COVID-19 treatment, roads and bridges, and climate-related measures such as funding for electric vehicles and tax credits for clean energy production. Parts of it were approved by Congress, including COVID and electric-vehicle provisions, while others were blocked by Republicans and conservative Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Marling's other projections have included a flashing of 'lawless oligarch' onto the San Francisco headquarters of Elon Musk's X Corp., which Musk has since moved to Texas.
