April 3, 1969

p. 3

John Greenleaf Whittier's "barefoot boy with cheek of tan" could not be ruled off San Francisco streets for failing to have the proper footgear, according to City Attorney Thomas M. O'Connor.

He informed the Board of Supervisors yesterday that the city cannot outlaw bare feet unless it can prove they are a threat to the public health.

"Unless the proposed legislation can be justified as protecting the general public from disease or injury," said O'Connor, "legislation designed solely to protect that portion of the populace who desire to roam the streets barefooted cannot be justified as a legitimate exercise of the police power.

If the city can produce medical evidence that bare feet are a hazard to the public health, it can possibly draft a law prohibiting them.

"If the [supervisors] committee wishes to pursue the subject," said the city attorney gently, "it should consult with competent medical authority."

The issue had been brought to the Board by an alarmed citizen who urged them to outlaw bare feet for the protection of the walker.

O'Connor pointed out that no law could be adopted to protect barefooted persons from the dangers of street and sidewalk, but only to protect the general public from disease or injury.