05/05/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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.. . the merchants opposing the ordinance will try to hide behind the principles of private property and ownership and will say that government has no right to force freedom of speech on them, and that freedom of speech is secondary to private ownership. In response to those assertions, the councilors should consider that freedom of speech is a right as stated in the Bill of Rights; it is possible to have private enterprise and owner- ship as the dominant form of economic organization, but that does not guarantee political freedom or free speech, although free speech assures the possibility of private enterprise, and by any stretch of the imagination it is difficult to believe that the malls are private property since Webster1s Dictionary states that a mall is "A public area often set with shade trees and designed as a promenade or as a pedestrian walk." It is very possible and proper, therefore, to distinguish between a mall as a public area and a store as a private area. The issue of private property should be considered with the distinction that the stores are private property and should be accorded certain protections and the mall area should be public property. It should be encour- aged to allow the fullest range of free speech. e Leslie Hendrickson, 1036 Adams, said she came to the meeting because she feels strongly about the difficulty of preserving free speech. Large malls are central business districts. These malls are accessible to large groups of people and diverse activities. Malls are not accessible to the public because of the large parking spaces around them. Shopping center malls enjoy privileges which the downtown business district does not. Valley River Center was built with substantial amounts of public monies. Roads and sewers were provided to them, and the public and the City government have a sense of ownersh ip in them. All bus inesses and private property should be protected from dangerous and harmful people, but this was not the case in the Kokis case. There was no evidence to show that she was harmful or dangerous. She feels that passage of this ordinance would show that free speech is not for sale in the City of Eugene. Margaret Kehrer, 110 Mayfair, works for a non-profit agency for public education regarding food and agriculture. There are people in the business of public education and access is important for this education to continue. It is important for vendors of food as well as for vendors of ideas. She is in support of the amendment in concept. She;s worried, how- ever, about the designated space being unusable and also about who would be making the decisions regarding what activities and what people would be admitted and who would be denied. She feels review of the application process is important. . 5/5/80--5