Anti-war Group Sues City over Denial of Central Park Permit
By Sara Kugler
The Associated Press
Wednesday 18 August 2004
NEW YORK -- The anti-war group planning a massive demonstration the day before the GOP convention asked a judge on Wednesday to overrule city officials and let them gather in Central Park.
Lawyers for the group, United for Peace and Justice, filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan seeking an order prohibiting the city from denying the group use of the park and finding that the denial violated the state Constitution.
The lawsuit noted that the park has been used in the past for a Paul Simon concert attended by 750,000 people, a papal Mass that drew 250,000 people and regular performances by the New York City Opera and the New York Philharmonic seen by tens of thousands.
The Constitution was violated "by discriminating on the basis of content in allowing cultural but not political events," the group claims.
Jeffrey Fogel, legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told a news conference that the reason for the city's denial was "a pretext, a sham and, frankly, an outrage to citizens of this country who believe in the Constitution."
"When the city opens up its parks and allows its use for corporate sponsors and cultural events, it cannot then discriminate against those who wish to discuss political ideas in the parks as well," he said.
The last-ditch attempt to have a permitted gathering in the park comes one week after the group backed out of a deal it had reached with the city that allowed it to rally along a west Manhattan highway after marching past convention headquarters at Madison Square Garden.
The organization's leaders said they changed their minds about the shadeless West Side Highway because they couldn't resolve issues like access to drinking water and projecting sound along the long, narrow space.
The highway deal was reached after the Parks Department denied the group's request for a Central Park permit last April. Officials said that the expected crowd at the Aug. 29 rally, which could exceed 250,000 people, would damage the grass.
After United for Peace and Justice reneged on the deal last week, it applied again to the Parks Department, seeking to spread out the crowd in other areas of the park. The city squashed that application hours later, accusing them of engaging in "theatrics."
On Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was "disappointed" that the lawsuit had been filed, but said the city would not relent without a court order.
"We are not going to give a permit for Central Park," he said. "Central Park cannot accommodate a protest of another quarter of a million people in addition to all the other protests and all the people who are in Central Park on a normal Sunday."
The city's corporation counsel, Michael Cardozo, said in a statement that the lawsuit filed Wednesday "has absolutely no merit."
"We have worked with this group for months to find a solution that would allow its members to express their important First Amendment rights while also providing them with an appropriate place to protest," Cardozo said. "We will aggressively defend the city's position, and we're confident that we'll prevail in court."
The fight between city officials and the anti-war group has prompted some organizations to urge activists to gather in the park anyway, risking arrest.
Leslie Cagan, the group's leader, has said that United for Peace and Justice would take every measure to secure permits for its event because they want the demonstration to be family friendly where participants don't have to worry about clashes with police.
"Going to court was never our favorite option," she said Wednesday. "It is actually the only option that we have left at this point."
The group was unsuccessful in a court battle last year. It sued in February 2003, when police denied an application to march past the United Nations and granted instead a permit for a stationary rally.
A federal judge said the city did not violate the First Amendment, citing heightened security at the United Nations. An appeals court agreed three days before the rally, which drew tens of thousands of people.
The Associated Press
Wednesday 18 August 2004
NEW YORK -- The anti-war group planning a massive demonstration the day before the GOP convention asked a judge on Wednesday to overrule city officials and let them gather in Central Park.
Lawyers for the group, United for Peace and Justice, filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan seeking an order prohibiting the city from denying the group use of the park and finding that the denial violated the state Constitution.
The lawsuit noted that the park has been used in the past for a Paul Simon concert attended by 750,000 people, a papal Mass that drew 250,000 people and regular performances by the New York City Opera and the New York Philharmonic seen by tens of thousands.
The Constitution was violated "by discriminating on the basis of content in allowing cultural but not political events," the group claims.
Jeffrey Fogel, legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told a news conference that the reason for the city's denial was "a pretext, a sham and, frankly, an outrage to citizens of this country who believe in the Constitution."
"When the city opens up its parks and allows its use for corporate sponsors and cultural events, it cannot then discriminate against those who wish to discuss political ideas in the parks as well," he said.
The last-ditch attempt to have a permitted gathering in the park comes one week after the group backed out of a deal it had reached with the city that allowed it to rally along a west Manhattan highway after marching past convention headquarters at Madison Square Garden.
The organization's leaders said they changed their minds about the shadeless West Side Highway because they couldn't resolve issues like access to drinking water and projecting sound along the long, narrow space.
The highway deal was reached after the Parks Department denied the group's request for a Central Park permit last April. Officials said that the expected crowd at the Aug. 29 rally, which could exceed 250,000 people, would damage the grass.
After United for Peace and Justice reneged on the deal last week, it applied again to the Parks Department, seeking to spread out the crowd in other areas of the park. The city squashed that application hours later, accusing them of engaging in "theatrics."
On Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was "disappointed" that the lawsuit had been filed, but said the city would not relent without a court order.
"We are not going to give a permit for Central Park," he said. "Central Park cannot accommodate a protest of another quarter of a million people in addition to all the other protests and all the people who are in Central Park on a normal Sunday."
The city's corporation counsel, Michael Cardozo, said in a statement that the lawsuit filed Wednesday "has absolutely no merit."
"We have worked with this group for months to find a solution that would allow its members to express their important First Amendment rights while also providing them with an appropriate place to protest," Cardozo said. "We will aggressively defend the city's position, and we're confident that we'll prevail in court."
The fight between city officials and the anti-war group has prompted some organizations to urge activists to gather in the park anyway, risking arrest.
Leslie Cagan, the group's leader, has said that United for Peace and Justice would take every measure to secure permits for its event because they want the demonstration to be family friendly where participants don't have to worry about clashes with police.
"Going to court was never our favorite option," she said Wednesday. "It is actually the only option that we have left at this point."
The group was unsuccessful in a court battle last year. It sued in February 2003, when police denied an application to march past the United Nations and granted instead a permit for a stationary rally.
A federal judge said the city did not violate the First Amendment, citing heightened security at the United Nations. An appeals court agreed three days before the rally, which drew tens of thousands of people.
posted by R7 | 8/18/2004 11:21:00 PM
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