And lady lawyer, isn't this breaking the First Amendment in a big way? The city of SL, well, the mayor is deciding that leaflets can be passed out by anyone on property owned by a church. Ugh, I'd better be quiet and take a walk, this is really pushing my buttons. I'm not having Christian thoughts about Rocky, I'm sure he'd be real disappointed in my lack of niceness.
Rocky plan would allow protest area
Church rejects rules; Huntsman still mediating
Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson this afternoon was to announce proposed "time, place and manner restrictions" that would create designated protest zones but allow leafleteers complete access on Main Street Plaza.
The LDS Church has rejected the restrictions, saying the rules don't adequately protect its property rights. Elder Lance B. Wickman of the Quorums of Seventy has previously said that any protesting, demonstrating or leafletting on the plaza is unacceptable.
The American Civil Liberties Union was presented with an early copy of the restrictions and said it is happy - for the most part - with the rules, which govern protests and demonstrations on the plaza, ACLU attorney Janelle Eurick said.
Specifically, Eurick said Anderson's rules limit protests to two five-by-24 foot "protest zones" on the southeast and northeast corners of the plaza.
Individual leafleteers, however, are given free rein to wander throughout the plaza, Eurick said. The rules also ban noise levels that rise above certain decibels, but Eurick said those noise bans didn't rise above the level already banned on the city's public sidewalks.
Anderson had pledged that his time, place and manner restrictions for the Main Street Plaza would solve the plaza problems.
However, the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints retained prominent attorney Alan Sullivan to fight Anderson over dueling interpretations of a severability clause, negotiated in the contract that deeded a block of Main Street to the church three years ago.
Wednesday, Sullivan sent a letter to Anderson and new City Attorney Ed Rutan restating the church's position that - given the severability clause - the city's easement on the plaza no longer exists. Sullivan previously represented AT&T in a lawsuit disputing ownership of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Anderson's entire 17-pages of restrictions were to be made public at a 3 p.m. press conference at City Hall today. However, Presiding Bishop David H. Burton and other church officials received a preview of Anderson's restrictions this week and decided the restrictions weren't adequate.