Home » News & Events » News Archive » 2007 Press Releases
Miami Beach Anti-Free Speech Regulatory Scheme Challenged by ACLU of Florida
Panhandlers and Street Performers Targeted by City
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, June 22, 2007
CONTACT:
Brandon Hensler, Director of Communications, (786) 363-2700
Alexandra Bassil, Assistant Director of Communications, (786) 363-2700
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida’s Greater Miami Chapter filed a lawsuit in State Court today challenging two Miami Beach Ordinances and two sections of City Code that, when viewed together, effectively prohibit panhandlers, street performers, artists and others from freely expressing themselves.
The overbroad Panhandling Ordinance makes solicitations of money – passive or aggressive – an illegal activity. Miami-Dade County currently has, and the City of Miami Beach enforces, an aggressive panhandling Ordinance that is intended to prevent people from intimidating others or using fear to compel people to give them money. In contrast, the City’s Panhandling Ordinance was put in place in 2005 to “protect the safety…of residents and visitors” and “eradicate annoying, distasteful, or unpleasant speech,” which is a pretext to empower government to regulate constitutionally protected free speech by criminalizing passive panhandling by artists and others.
“The government cannot limit speech simply because it finds it unpleasant—that is unconstitutional,” said Rosalind Matos, South Florida Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Florida. “Street performers, artists and panhandlers are being pushed out of the city and victimized by City policies that favor business use of public space. The City can regulate pedestrian traffic without limiting people’s right to free speech, but they haven’t, so we are here to lend a platform to those who need a voice.”
In 2005, the Third District Court of Appeal struck down Miami Beach’s Street Performer Ordinance as unconstitutional. The City then introduced a similar Ordinance in April of 2007. The new Street Performer Ordinance allocates several locations on Lincoln Road where street performers can perform if they are granted a permit. When viewed in concert, the two Ordinances create a scheme that severely restricts free speech in Miami Beach. The Street Performer Ordinance went into effect this month and carries a penalty of up to 60 days incarceration and a $500 fine.
Together, the City’s Ordinances create a scheme that is so broad that it would limit not just street performers, but any political, artistic or religious free speech activity including Girl Scouts selling cookies, Salvation Army volunteers asking for donations during the holidays, as well as religious and charitable solicitations, according to the lawsuit.
The ACLU has spoken up against similar ordinances across the country, including New York, Georgia, Virginia and Pennsylvania, and filed lawsuits in Albuquerque, NM and Cincinnati, OH, among others.
“The City should embrace its diverse community. Miami Beach’s regulatory scheme prohibiting passive panhandling and restricting street performers and art vendors from expressing themselves is an attempt to sterilize and sanitize the streets of Miami Beach,” said Carlene Sawyer, President of the Greater Miami Chapter of the ACLU of Florida. “Instead, the City should concentrate its resources on enforcing current laws and cracking down on crime.”
The case, Russel Harvey v. City of Miami Beach, was filed today in the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County by Rosalind Matos, ACLU of Florida South Florida Staff Attorney and other cooperating attorneys. The ACLU is seeking declaratory judgment, and immediate and permanent injunctive relief.
About the ACLU of Florida
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida is freedom's watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For additional information, visit our Web site at: www.aclufl.org.
# # #
