I was kicking it at a barbershop watching a game of bones this weekend when I decided to pick up a copy of Anaheim Magazine, the city's official publication. Much to my amusement, the current summer issue took the time to put a positive spin on last year's crackdown on yard sales that limited them to four weekends per year!
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Ever since the pendejada was passed by unanimous council vote last November, yard sale signs have been going up on posts throughout the city, code enforcement be damned. Whether it's gabachos unloading unwanted stuff from garages or raza laying out their wares, it's as if the ordinance calling for seasonal quarterly regulations had never been.
But Anaheim Magazine would have you believe otherwise. In its glossy pages, the writeup attempts to gloss over reality as it trots out the notion that garage sales are “becoming a community affair” in the title. The photo shows neighbors sifting through goods in perfect civic bliss.
When the ordinance passed last year, councilwoman Gail Eastman whined how yard sales were a blight akin to swap meets (pendeja obviously doesn't remember the bomb-ass swap meet that used to set up at the old Lemon Drive-In Theater way back when), caused traffic clutter and dragged Anaheim's image down. Much of her banter was coded for the working-class Mexis who hustle on early weekend mornings trying to make ends meet.
The real kicker in the magazine alludes to “blight fright” writing, “Not only does the quarterly event keep Anaheim neighborhoods beautiful, it also provides residents with a reason to come together on a regular basis.” HAHA!
What's really beautiful is seeing all the yard sale posts across the city on 'unauthorized weekends.' Civic silliness has unwittingly turned them all into protest signs!
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!