Vote on median steps on speech

In Print: Saturday, October 4, 2008

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The U.S. Constitution protects free speech, whether it is political or commercial. It does not say that if you're crossing the street, you better just keep on walking. It doesn't say you better not stand in the median to raise money for charity, to campaign for office or to sell a newspaper.

It took the St. Petersburg City Council to say that. By a 7-1 vote Thursday, the council banned people from doing anything at all in a public median except cross the street. Council member Jim Kennedy at one point even said "the Constitution is an inconvenient document." Kennedy said Friday he meant that council members could not pick and choose which speech to ban on medians. For example, the city could not ban panhandlers but allow fundraising by firefighters or civic groups (or single out vendors who sell the St. Petersburg Times from public medians). Unfortunately, he was among those choosing nothing.

Mayor Rick Baker and council members argued that the issue involves safety, not speech. But they pushed a heavy-handed ordinance to address a problem that doesn't seem to exist. An assistant police chief acknowledged "we have not had anyone injured recently, but the threat is there."

Only council member Wengay Newton, in casting the lone dissenting vote, saw the ordinance for what it is: a ban that "does too much infringing on people's civil rights."

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