Amended parade law levies a fee

PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 09/29/09


An ordinance amending St. Augustine's regulations on parades -- adding a $50 permit fee -- passed on second reading Monday night in a unanimous vote by the City Commission, but that relatively routine vote sparked a few unexpected hard feelings for two members of the public.

One of the changes, though, was adding the $50 fee to cover permit costs, with additional language added from federal court opinions that require "prompt review and appeal" of permit denials.

However, two speakers took issue with the fee and with what they perceived as restrictions on free speech.

Terry Buckenmeyer, of the Central Florida chapter of Veterans for Peace, said that over the years he's witnessed the commission "use (its) power to twist and distort the meaning of the Constitution" to favor the businesses that support them.

They allegedly did this by using "money, laws, armed police, lies and legal mumbo-jumbo."

Buckenmeyer declared he would "not pay money to or ask permission of those in power to exercise our constitutional rights. (And) we will not be relegated to obscure 'free-speech zones.'"

Then he ended his comments with a vague warning that involved a "simple but very effective" strategy his group would employ to oppose "this calculated erosion of rights."

Veterans for Peace is dedicated to non-violence, so the commissioners did not seem disturbed by Buckenmeyer's comments.

St. Augustine activist Ed Slavin also blasted the ordinance, saying it's illegal on the face of it.

"This city has continued to violate the First Amendment time and again," Slavin said. "There's no way your latest ordinance will sustain constitutional scrutiny."

City Attorney Ron Brown recommended that the commission pass the ordinance anyway.

"The city has a right to govern a parade on city streets," he said. "Nothing in the United States Constitution prevents regulating parades that are content neutral."

That means the city may not consider a parade's message in determining whether or not to allow it.

Mayor Joe Boles said, "Even (opponents of the ordinance) would agree that the cost of providing police protection and stopping traffic so the paradegoers don't get run over is worth $50."

Vice Mayor Errol Jones said there's a difference between a parade and a protest.

"A protest is spontaneous. A parade allows you a clear procession without obstruction," he said.

The measure passed 5-0 after a motion by Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline.


Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/092909/news_2026453.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record