The Department made a conscious decision when analyzing the terminal facilities with regard to whether we could proceed as several other airports had with regard to establishing fixed booths offline or allowing those individuals who wish to exercise First Amendment rights having direct interface with the passengers and use[r]s of the terminal. We *920 therefore identified the number of areas, as shown on this exhibit [see picture of Miami International Airport, Second Floor—Terminal Building, attached hereto as Exhibit A], which interject the individual exercising that right into the movement and flow of passengers and by its very nature require that there be no fixed or permanent facilities whether it either be a stack of books or some of the Krishna, I believe, who use baggage carts with books on them. We require them to put them back behind them to get them out of the flow.
Essentially, when we made the decision that free exercise areas would be as close to major passenger flows as possible to allow the various permittees access to the large passenger flows, it was necessary to restrict the policy to ensure that there were no permanent or unmovable or even semi-permanent barriers which would inhibit passenger flows during peak periods which occur daily.
Were we to hold to the contrary, display cases in public hospitals, libraries, office buildings, military compounds and other public facilities immediately would become Hyde Parks open to every would-be pamphleteer and politician. This the Constitution does not require.
A public forum should be relatively spacious to ensure both the physical and psychological comfort and convenience of all users of the property. The assurance of physical convenience is a practical concern: keeping passageways open so that traffic may flow unobstructed.
It's not uncommon on any day during the period 12:00 to 1:30 and particularly on weekends or holiday periods for the flow through the First Amendment areas to be completely blocked by passengers or cued at the ticket counters.... To put in any kind of permanent or even a barrier that requires several minutes to move would be an unacceptable impediment to passenger flow through the area.... To inject any other permanent obstacles in there that are not there for reason of passenger comfort, passenger necessity is not an acceptable situation.
The Los Angeles ordinance does not affect any individual's freedom to exercise the right to speak and to distribute literature in the same place where the posting of signs on public property is prohibited. (footnote citation omitted). To the extent that the posting of signs on public property has advantages over these forms of expression (citation omitted), there is no reason to believe that these same advantages cannot be obtained through other means. To the contrary, the findings of the District Court indicate that there are ample alternative modes of communication in Los Angeles.
Persons having given such written notice shall be permitted to conduct their activities in or upon the public airport areas, ..., subject only to such restrictions as may be prescribed from time to time by the director, provided, however, that any such restrictions shall be reasonable and appropriate and shall be prescribed only after a finding by the director that the restrictions are necessary to avoid injury, or the likelihood of injury, to persons or property, or to assure the safe and orderly use of the airport facilities by the public, and such restrictions shall be applied equally and without discrimination as to all persons who have given such written notice.
No person, while engaging in the activities provided for herein, shall prevent or interfere with access to or egress from any airport, airline, concession or washroom facilities or premises, including passenger concourses, escalators and elevators, nor shall such person in any manner assail, coerce, threaten or physically disturb any member of the public, county, airline or concession employee or any other person for any reason, nor shall such activity prevent, impede, interfere with, hamper or curtail the conduct of business at the airport....
No person(s) singly or in association with others shall by his or their conduct or by congregating with others prevent any other person or persons lawfully entitled thereto from the use and enjoyment of the airport and its facilities or any part thereof, or prevent any other person or persons lawfully entitled thereto from passage from place to place, or through entrances, exits or passageways on the airport.
Unlike a clerk issuing an occupational permit, or a sheriff issuing a parade permit, the Director of a major international airport, such as Miami International Airport, is a high level executive whose duties are by their nature discretionary.... It would be absurd to suggest that the Board of County Commissioners consisting of nine private citizens who serve essentially without salary and meet once very two weeks should be giving the Aviation Director specific directions as to where and when persons should be allowed to exercise First Amendment Rights at Miami International Airport. (pg. 11, DE 36).
It is not the type of unbridled discretion which would allow an official to pick and choose among expressions of view the ones he will permit to use the streets and other public facilities, which we have invalidated in the obstruction of public passages statutes ... Nor does this limited administrative regulation of traffic which the Court has consistently recognized as necessary and permissible, constitute a waiver of law which is beyond the power of the police.
[C]haritable appeals for funds, on the street or door to door, involve a variety of speech interests—communication of information, the dissemination and propagation of views and ideas, and the advocacy of causes—that are within the protection of the First Amendment. Soliciting financial support is undoubtedly subject to reasonable regulation but the latter must be undertaken with due regard for the reality that solicitation is characteristically intertwined with informative and perhaps persuasive speech seeking support for particular causes or for particular views on economic, political, or social issues, and for the reality that without solicitation the flow of such information and advocacy would likely cease.
End of Document | © 2024 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. |