These guys were at the event today...

[Jon S.]

I am getting overly excited now that my appetite has been whett...


Check out this link:
http://www.importxdream.com/Blue.php

[328bimma]

Jon, did you stay until the end? if you didn't, by 1-2 O'clock everyone that exits the convention center were either pulled over by the police. =( just within my crew alone there were 7-8 fixin tix writtened. but... i have witnessed over 40-50 cars that got pulled over getting ticketed. i am truely worried about that mite be a future distrubance towards bimmerfest or anything that will be hosted in santa barbara.

a few of us locals are taking action and complaining towards the SB city council and the local police department. I felt ashamed as a SB local for the treatment that our fellow car enthusiast recieved.

[328bimma]

this is the letter from them:

To all who attended NorCal vs. Socal 2004 in Santa Barbara, CA:

Oh behalf of Tempt Media and importXdream.com, I would like to send my most sincere apologies for what happened to you as you were leaving the event today. It is obvious that the Santa Barbara law enforcement was being discriminatory against our cars and were merely treating us like a game. What the police department displayed today was not only unacceptable, but portrays an image of Santa Barbara that is negative in nature; being that Santa Barbara is my home town, I am both embarrassed and ashamed at what took place.

I would like you ALL to know that I will be taking EVERY action possible to contest the Santa Barbara police department for their actions of unnecessary harassment, discriminatory actions, and overall crooked schemes of “enforcing the law” to make “our streets safer.”

I myself witnessed a Toyota minivan blatantly run a red light RIGHT passed a stationary officer who watched the van pass, and chose to pull over a VW who was abiding by all traffic laws exiting the fair grounds; he was pulled over for no front license plate and cited, while the minivan was not attended to whatsoever. I approached the officer about this and he plainly replied: “I did not see the van.” While he said this, his face turned red and expressed emotions and one could clearly come to the conclusion that he was lying to my face. Not only did this make me, as well as others standing behind me more uneasy, but the police were rude in discussing with us and did not treat us with any respect whatsoever. I tried to keep things in a civilized manor, but the police acted in a childish and immature manor, replying with remarks of sarcasm and offending remarks towards me.

In conclusion, I believe that the Santa Barbara City Council, Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, and the Santa Barbara police department MUST be notified of today’s events. I have spoken with several individuals, whose names will remain anonymous, that have said if we make a stand, these tickets will NOT have to be paid, and necessary action will be taken to make sure these acts of harassment and lack of respect will be remedied. We all agree what happened today was RIDICULOUS, and will NOT be tolerated. Anyone who stood out and watched the events that took place would wholeheartedly agree that the police were acting as if pulling over innocent vehicles was some sort of GAME.

IF YOU HAVE ANY VIDEO FOOTAGE OR PICTURES, please be sure to contact me as soon as possible. The more evidence we have, the better case we have to make against SBPD. Please be sure to email me with anything you have at: info@importxdream.com or tyler@castc.net. Moreover, you can instant message me if you have AIM at: bluelimitd Moreover, you can phone me @ (805) 698-5270

HERE IS WHAT YOU GUYS CAN DO:

The best way for us to be heard is to write and call the following:

WRITE A LETTER TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE(S):

Santa Barbara News Press:

Santa Barbara News Press
P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara, CA 93102

Goleta Valley Voice:
Email: vvoice@goletavalleyvoice.com

Goleta Valley Voice
5786 Hollister Avenue, Goleta, CA 93117

Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce:

Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce
924 Anacapa St. Suite 1, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Steve Cushman
Executive Director
(805)965-3023 Ext. 14
steve@sbchamber.org



CALL THE FOLLOWING:

Phone: (805) 897-2300

Ask for the “Watch Commander”


If you have any questions DO NOT hesitate to contact me.

-Tyler

importXdream.com

[Kaz]

I spoke to Jon in the morning, so I don't think he was still around when this started in the afternoon.

The 'huntdown' by the PD was a major letdown of an otherwise cool event. Though AFAIK nothing like this had happened at Bimmerfest in the past, this is obviously a precedence-setting action that could very well affect Bimmerfest this year, as it will be a similar event at the same location.

Sometime around 4PM, the 4 or 5 officers that were initially over at the top of the hill at Las Positas had split up, realizing that there is another exit out back.

Obviously, moving violations and other illegal/dangerous actions should be enforced, but the type of set-up that was going on today to nab people for tint, front plates, exhaust noise, etc. was unreasonable, IMO, and left a pretty obvious bad impression on the event attendees.

[doeboy]

I spoke to Jon in the morning, so I don't think he was still around when this started in the afternoon.

The 'huntdown' by the PD was a major letdown of an otherwise cool event. Though AFAIK nothing like this had happened at Bimmerfest in the past, this is obviously a precedence-setting action that could very well affect Bimmerfest this year, as it will be a similar event at the same location.

Sometime around 4PM, the 4 or 5 officers that were initially over at the top of the hill at Las Positas had split up, realizing that there is another exit out back.

Obviously, moving violations and other illegal/dangerous actions should be enforced, but the type of set-up that was going on today to nab people for tint, front plates, exhaust noise, etc. was unreasonable, IMO, and left a pretty obvious bad impression on the event attendees.

Also, gives a pretty clear "You are NOT welcome in our town" kind of message. :thumbdwn: :tsk: :rolleyes:

[LordGop]

Hope they don't target the fest, But I don't think we have anything to worry about

[xs3x]

nothing is stopping me to go to the fest :thumbup:

[Matthew330Ci]

better put my front plates on when i go. ugh.

[pixA4]

We just got off the phone with the Earl Warren Showgrounds and spoke to them about the situation. Their understanding of why the police showed up was not because of the cars that were attending or any of the legal issues with the attendee's cars but because of the gate check-in procedures that NorCal v. SoCal had put in place. Basically the 101 was backed up quite a ways down the highway and caused some traffic issues. The police were called because of that and THEN proceeded to come out to the event.

This will simply not be an issue as bimmerfest does not have any type of gate check-in. There will be parking attendants whos sole job will be to point people in the right direction and to ensure that the same problem doesn't occur.

With this out of the way and this being the fifth annual bimmerfest, we do not see the same situation happening. Please don't let what happened at this one event affect your decision to attend this year's bimmerfest, we hope that it will well exceed everyone's expectations from previous years.

We hope to see you all there :thumbup:

[Jon S.]

Because we are not collecting any fees upon entrance, we will be able to expedite
rapidy entry.. :thumbup:

[Kaz]

Even if that was the initial reason for the police's arrival (and that's true, there was definitely an issue with that; even worse, the gate fee was something that was instituted last-minute. I went with an exhibitor and he didn't know about it till we got there), that wasn't why they stayed around. I have feeling that if they drive by that big parking lot and spot a lot full of potential 'victims' that they'd do the same thing, even if there wasn't any specific initial incident.

I'm not trying to put a damper on things for our event. Just that it became such an issue on Saturday as the day wore on. I understand that by sometime yesterday there have been at least 100 reports of citations handed out specifically from this.

[bugzy]

We just got off the phone with the Earl Warren Showgrounds and spoke to them about the situation. Their understanding of why the police showed up was not because of the cars that were attending or any of the legal issues with the attendee's cars but because of the gate check-in procedures that NorCal v. SoCal had put in place. Basically the 101 was backed up quite a ways down the highway and caused some traffic issues. The police were called because of that and THEN proceeded to come out to the event.

This will simply not be an issue as bimmerfest does not have any type of gate check-in. There will be parking attendants whos sole job will be to point people in the right direction and to ensure that the same problem doesn't occur.

With this out of the way and this being the fifth annual bimmerfest, we do not see the same situation happening. Please don't let what happened at this one event affect your decision to attend this year's bimmerfest, we hope that it will well exceed everyone's expectations from previous years.

We hope to see you all there :thumbup:

they didnt really help traffic, instead they gave tickets for fix-its instead

[MikekiM]

My understanding, after talking with several people who spoke with officers is that they were given direct orders from the Captain to issue the tickets. They had officers posted at 2 exits, and in one case actually waved a car to hurry up and leave so they could write them up.

It was a disappointing set of events to an otherwise excellent gtg. While I certainly wouldn't hope that the same thing happens at Bimmerfest, I really wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it did.

[Jon S.]

I have an important announcement to make on this!

I just got off of the phone with a very close family friend that is deeply enmeshed
in Santa Barbara City Government, with ties to the City Council, Chief of Police,
and our Mayor.

****Do not, I repeat, do not panic****

We will NOT see a repeat of what happened this past weekend on May 1st.
You can bank on it.

I will pass along more info as things unfold.

The City of Santa Barbara welcomes all Bimmerfest attendees/enthusiasts!

[Kaz]

:thumbup:

That's the kind of reassurance we need!

Jon kicks ass!

[doeboy]

:clap: :thumbup: :fruit:

Jon you rock! :D

[Keith]

[QUOTE=Jon Shafer]I have an important announcement to make on this!

I just got off of the phone with a very close family friend that is deeply enmeshed
in Santa Barbara City Government, with ties to the City Council, Chief of Police,
and our Mayor.

****Do not, I repeat, do not panic****

We will NOT see a repeat of what happened this past weekend on May 1st.
You can bank on it.

Jon, you "are" GOD !!!!! :bow: :beerchug: :bow: :thumbup:

[chonch]

That's a relief.... Thanks Jon


I have an important announcement to make on this!

I just got off of the phone with a very close family friend that is deeply enmeshed
in Santa Barbara City Government, with ties to the City Council, Chief of Police,
and our Mayor.

****Do not, I repeat, do not panic****

We will NOT see a repeat of what happened this past weekend on May 1st.
You can bank on it.

I will pass along more info as things unfold.

The City of Santa Barbara welcomes all Bimmerfest attendees/enthusiasts!

[ReNNeN_PiNoY]

jon,

i appreciate all you do to assure a fun bimmerfest! cant wait for this one! :thumbup:

[318daily]

Thank you very much for handling the authorities. I am very relieved and glad that I'm holding out for B'fest and didn't go to the norcal/socal thing. Especially since I have no idea where my front plate is and my windows are tinted.


2 1/2 weeks away :thumbup:

[Matthew330Ci]

thanks jon.

ok, so now i'm debating whether i should put the front plate on or not. :D

[Raffi]

:thumbup: :thumbup:

[LordGop]

I won't put it on I have been driving around for the longest time with out one but the front of my car is not drilled so :dunno:

[328bimma]

tyler and those at importextreme and Jon of course are making great progress. everyone should be homefree @ bimmerfest. no worries!