No Kings, at the Local Level

[XLFD]

The "No Kings" protest came to Ludington yesterday, March 28, 2026, between the hours of 1 and 3 PM.  While similar organized protests happen each Wednesday for an hour at the courthouse, and somewhat regularly throughout the last year coinciding with the ascension of the second Trump Administration, this is only the third to claim the "No Kings" mantle.  

While this article won't generally explore the causes or methodology of this protest phenomenon, we will take a look at why this particular event at Rotary Park in Ludington yesterday shows how our local government has chosen to dramatically change the regular rules in order to facilitate the event, making the "No Kings" message rather ambiguous at the least.  

Take a look at the view this reporter had upon the approach to the demonstration shortly after 1 PM.  Can you guess what seems out of place?

If you noticed the presence of the City-owned DPW truck parked across the beginning of North Lewis Street and the "road-closed" sign and sawhorse, you're on the right track.  Another truck and more signs were at the other end of the block showing that the street had been closed by the city for this event. 

This is significant because when a street needs to be closed for an event in Ludington the event typically requires approval by the city council, this is mentioned a couple of times in the City's Special Event/Public Use Application and is the general practice followed for similar events that close Lewis Street-- such as the Ludington Pride Festival approved by council over the last two years and the perennially approved "Movies in the Park", "Suds on the Shore" events, among others. 

A look at the origin of "No Kings 3" indicates that it was envisioned in January as an event to be held on March 28th across America, this means that any council approval would have had to take place this year, but a review of the six agendas prepared for council show that there was no approval for the event in any way.  One can review the minutes and videos of each of these meetings and never hear of the approval of this event by council, but a host of other established 2026 events received approval.  What we do see, however, is a spot for it on the City's webpage calendar:

City leaders felt this event was important enough to include on their official calendar which typically is exclusive of events not sponsored or approved by the city council.  Let's remember that this event was organized and promoted primarily by Indivisible and a group called 50501.  The movement behind each group was based on resistance to authoritarian governments.

50501 started as a "decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies".  "Our movement shows the world that the American working class will not sit idly by as plutocrats rip apart their democratic institutions and civil liberties while undermining the rule of law", according to their webpage, which differs little from the conclusions of Indivisible.

What turned into an amazing irony in this event was who the keynote speaker was that led off the protest movement from the Rotary Park stage and whose unique voice was amplified throughout the whole park by speakers.  Ludington City Councilor At-large John Terzano.  He touched most of the chords that are found on the usual anti-Trump guitars, telling us how the authoritarians needed to be kept in check, before leading a "No Kings" chant at the end of his presentation.  All in front of his inverted United States flag:

Councilor Terzano is not the best spokesman against plutocrats, he owns a small estate worth over half a million a couple of blocks away from this venue, and doesn't pay anything in property taxes due to his veteran status-- yet he raises everyone's property taxes unlawfully every summer.   Nor is he the best spokesman for civil liberties as a matter of practice, since he's always defended the LPD against any allegation of civil liberty infringement, even when camera footage is available showing improprieties. 

He was the primary proponent for imposing the city's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) on the citizens.  UDOs are reasonably criticized as authoritarian or overly restrictive by community members and property owners who see them as reducing individual property rights in favor of centralized control.  He was also the most vocal on shutting down AndyS based on what appears to be a specious and authoritarian interpretation of an agreed upon site plan review; this led to a lawsuit against the City where most learned observers say is not in the City's favor.

It appears to be a rather odd look for the two-term councilor to rally against what he deems authoritarian policy at the federal level, when he is engaged in what looks much worse at the local level, all while leading a mantra of "No Kings" while an inverted flag is conspicuously in his background.  Such symbolism is ambiguous, but an elected city councilor standing in front of the upside-down stars and stripes railing against federal policy when that policy seems less authoritarian than Ludington's appears to be is at least ironic.  Especially when one considers he is doing it at an organized protest which he should definitely know is unlawful when local law is applied.

The protesters did clean up after themselves, leaving the DPW paraphernalia on the side of the street for later pickup as seen above several hours after the event ended.  Yet, one wonders why the organizers of this event didn't require approval of their keynote speaker and his peers on the city council.  One wonders whether their taxes were used by what was a partisan protest to pay the overtime of the DPW workers involved in setup and breakdown of the event appurtenances.  

Public bodies that fail to treat each and every event using the same policy are not being transparent, accountable, or honest.  Public bodies that use tax money for partisan events are being unfair to those who do not share their publicly-subsidized beliefs.  A city councilor who stands in front of an inverted US flag and criticizes federal policy when he knows that the event he's speaking at is not following local policy is just ridiculous on every level.