SAN RAMON — Armed with just a light projector, blank wall and the First Amendment, Alan Marling has blanketed buildings in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and Walnut Creek with word-based protests since 2017 — going viral for projections of “Space Karen,” “Lawless Oligarch” and other criticisms of Elon Musk onto Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco.
But in San Ramon, a relatively mundane presidential slogan Marling projected onto San Ramon City Hall in November of 2021 led to his being detained for 15 minutes — sparking a legal saga that ended on Monday with what lawyers involved in the case say is one of the largest settlements of its kind, with the city agreeing to pay him $120,000.
After he was briefly detained and cited more than three years ago for projecting “Build Back Better” onto the municipal facade, Marling faced $437 in penalties for creating a public nuisance and other minor charges.
San Ramon engaged a private attorney to prosecute the case, but Marling was acquitted of all charges. He then sued the city in federal court for alleged violations of his First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights, as well as false arrest, among other legal claims.
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The suit implicated numerous top officials, including City Attorney Martin Lysons, retired city manager Joe Gorton, and former police chief Craig Stevens, current Police Chief Denton Carlson, Sgt. Michael Pistello, Officer Rick Gonzalez, attorney Lance Bayer and Karen McHenry-Smith, executive assistant to the city manager. Besides violating his constitutional rights, Marling said in his suit that police had also threatened to confiscate his projector — complying under duress.
The court dismissed Marling’s First Amendment claim, but allowed his false arrest and Fourth Amendment claims to proceed. Finally, the city — without admitting any wrongdoing — settled for $120,000, which includes Marling’s legal fees.
Marling said that he had chosen San Ramon City Hall because the government building, located at 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road, is one of the only places near his Tri-Valley home that satisfies the basic architectural requirements for projections — a broad, multi-story building near high-traffic thoroughfares.
“Every other city, more or less, understands that it’s good to encourage peaceful and non violent free speech, but San Ramon felt that even that was unacceptable,” Marling told Bay Area News Group.
Donald Wagda, Marling’s Danville attorney, said San Ramon opted to prosecute this to “the bitter end.”
Alan Marling, a light-projector activist, received a $120,000 settlement from the city of San Ramon for being wrongfully detailed in Nov. 2021, after he was cited for projecting “Build Back Better” on the outside of San Ramon City Hall. (photo courtesy Alan Marling)
“I normally don’t do criminal defense work, but with $437 at stake, I figured that they would drop the charges,” Wagda said. “But that’s not what they did. They hired an outside counsel and private attorney to act as prosecutor, and they prosecuted this to the bitter end.”
Numerous requests to San Ramon officials for comment were not returned.
“I do believe that citizens have a duty — in order to maintain a democracy — to exercise their free speech and to engage with public discourse,” Marling said, specifically calling out the need for open dialogue in city halls. “If we stay silent and isolated and don’t talk to each other about what the government is doing, both federally and locally, then we will be have a government that slides further and further from democracy.”
Marling said he hopes the settlement discourages crackdowns on activism in the future.
“For the police to try to detain in this fashion is illegal — I wasn’t violating any laws,” Marling said. “I guess you could say it was a slap on the wrist to try to encourage cities to not do this.”
