(Ha ha! Get it? “Rolls” Along? Brilliant.)

Yesterday, when I happened to mention to city hall staffers that I was headed to the Rose Parade Duct Tape Policy Committee meeting, the responses were—across the board—automatic chuckles.

I don’t know if that says more about the issue, about the Mercury’s awesome intervention in the duct taping, or about the fact that city council would have to create a committee to figure out what brand of toilet paper to buy for the city hall bathrooms.

Some history: Last June, Commissioner Randy Leonard proposed a ban on the irritating, blight-creating practice of parade-goers marking off their spots with duct tape up to weeks in advance of the parade. But in a mind-blowing, totally cliche move, Leonard was forced by Mayor Potter and Commissioner Dan Saltzman to create a damn committee in order to spend the next six months talking about it.

Unlike some other committees I could name, this one has actually met a handful of times, and could have a policy recommendation to bring to city council in the next month—well earlier than the proposed six-month timeline.

The basics: Duct taping, spray painting, and chalking off “reserved” spots will be forbidden, and treated like the vandalism/littering it is. But in order to not simply be “taking something away from people,” the committee is considering extra amenities—bleachers at certain points along the parade route, special activity fun-time areas for kids (Face painting! And, uhhh, other stuff kids like!), more Honey Buckets, and numerous reserved spots for disabled and elderly viewers and their families.

A handful of questions remain: If someone camps out, can they save spots for family members? If so, how many family members? Is there a certain physical limitation to how much space they can save? What about tents and canopies? (The current idea is to allow tents from midnight the Thursday before the parade until 7 or 8 am Saturday morning, at which point they’ll need to be folded up to make room for parade watchers.) What about hotels and businesses that set out chairs for their customers? Can they hire people to physically occupy the space until the parade starts? Can they apply for something like the Sidewalk Cafe permits, which allow seats and tables on the sidewalk? Or should hotel guests be required to do the same thing as the rest of the town—show up early and hang out?

What do you think the committee should do? They’ll be meeting again in a couple of weeks with a draft of a proposed policy—feel free to sound off in the comments, as I’m sure the committee members will see them.

Leonard says he can't walk into a meeting without someone having duct taped his seat, and now they've started adding a can of spray paint to the makeshift shrines. Here's what he does with the stash.