The American Bar Association Sections of State and Local Government and Civil Rights and Social Justice are teaming up for a webinar on June 14, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. ET to discuss recent court decisions on the sticky issue of panhandling and solicitation. Since the Supreme Court decided Reed v. Town of Gilbert, many
Preliminary Injunction Granted to Animal Rights Activists in Pennsylvania Convention Center Case
Late last month, a federal court found that a group of animal rights activists was entitled to a preliminary injunction relating to the group’s protest activities outside of Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
The arena in question is owned by a public convention center authority but is operated by a private management company, SMG. In 2008, SMG promulgated a protest policy that required protestors to remain located in a parking area outside of the arena. The protest policy limited protestors’ ability to approach attendees at public events and to distribute literature. In March 2016, SMG revised the protest policy to allow two designated protest areas of approximately 500 to 700 square feet, and located closer to the entrance gates of the arena. The plaintiffs, including Silvie Pomicter and Last Chance for Animals sought to protest outside of the arena during the Barnum and Bailey Circus, which took place at the arena between April 28 and May 1.
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Court Denies Billboard Company’s Motion to Revise Earlier Order Upholding Local Sign Code
Last month, a federal court held that a billboard company’s motion to revise the court’s earlier denial of summary judgment to a Pennsylvania township’s sign regulations was not ripe.
The billboard company, Nittany Outdoor Advertising, LLC, desired to post messages written by a non-profit organization, Stephanas Ministries, on billboards in College Township, Pennsylvania. The township
Sign News – April 25, 2016
- The City of Yuma, Arizona is looking to adopt new billboard regulations that would allow replacement of some nonconforming billboards, as well as cap-and-trade for digital billboards.
- First it was digital billboards, now “sweating” billboards? That’s one way to stop the Zika virus.
- Anti-vegan signs are causing a stir here in Colorado.
- Not exactly
$435,000 Damage Award to Milwaukee Strip Club Upheld
Before 2012, the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin required strip clubs to obtain one of three business licenses: if the club included both alcohol and nudity, the club would require both a liquor license and a “tavern-amusement license”; a dry strip club required either a “theater license” or a “public-entertainment club license.”
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Sign News – Week of April 11, 2016
- The famous Pepsi-Cola sign in Queens has been designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as a city landmark. Does this constitute forced speech?
- A politically-inclined organization has placed a billboard in Polk County, North Carolina that appears to mock the state’s recently-passed “bathroom bill.”
- St. Augustine Beach, Florida appears to be
Tenth Circuit Upholds Grant of Preliminary Injunction in Denver Courthouse Case
In the continuing saga of the plaza of the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse here in Denver, last Friday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal district court did not abuse its discretion in granting the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Specifically, the Tenth Circuit upheld the district court’s treatment of the courthouse plaza as a traditional public forum—the Second Judicial District had earlier waived its argument that the plaza was anything but a traditional public forum—and that the district court did not err in finding that the content neutral regulation of speech in the plaza was insufficiently narrowly tailored.
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Abortion Protesters Lack Standing to Challenge New Hampshire Law
Last week, a federal district court judge in New Hampshire ruled that a group of protesters lacked standing to challenge a state law prohibiting them from entering within a 25-foot radius of the entrance to an abortion clinic. The law, which was similar to a Massachusetts law that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2014, stated that “[n]o person shall knowingly enter or remain on a public way or sidewalk adjacent to a reproductive health care facility within a radius up to 25 feet of any portion of an entrance, exit, or driveway of a reproductive health care facility.” The law also required clinics to “clearly demarcate” the buffer zone.
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Sign News – Week of April 4, 2016
- The Boston Globe is reporting that some neighbors are upset about a new billboard in Boston’s historic North End.
- Tyler, Texas is in the midst of a dispute over permitting fees for billboards.
- Some parents in Los Angeles put up a billboard trying to convert their children from the Church of Scientology.
- Indianapolis’s Historic Preservation
New Urban Lawyer Article Provides Guidance On Sign Regulation
For those wading through the sign regulation muddle post Reed v. Town of Gilbert, check out my latest article in The Urban Lawyer, Sign Regulation After Reed: Suggestions for Coping with Legal Uncertainty. Co-authored with Professor Alan Weinstein of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, the article provides practical advice to local government planners