Chapel Hill Transit
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen tonight voted unananimously to support freedom of speech on Chapel Hill Transit buses.
In a fairly crowded business meeting tonight, the Chapel Hill Town Council member heard from more than 30 members of the public on Chapel Hill Transit's current bus advertising policy. Contraversy around the ad was sparked by the placement of an ad by the Church of the Reconciliation urging the end of U.S. military aid to Israel. Speakers included several members of the Church of the Reconciliation, the director of the N.C. ACLU and local Jewish leaders among others.
The central question on the issue was whether the transit system consitituted a "public forum." This is important because under Supreme Court precedent regulations on speech in public forums are subject to greater scrutiny than regulations on speech in non-public forums.
About a year ago, the Town of Chapel Hill amended its bus advertisement policy to spell out rules for ads with political messages. In August, the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill placed an ad that shows a Jewish and a Palestinian grandfather each with a grandchild and reads “Join with us. Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The ad stirred up a controversy and led to a petition from citizens to change the bus ad policy to disallow such ads. The current policy is available online at http://www.townofchapelhill.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=15328.
On Friday, the ACLU of North Carolina sent a letter to the Chapel Hill town manager and elected officials outlining why changing the bus ad policy would violate the free speech clause of the First Amendment. Below is the ACLU-NC press release. The full letter is available here.
At the eleventh hour, the BoCC is still working through important issues on the transit plan - including whether Chapel Hill Transit (CHT) can use the new sales tax funds for existing service. Under the current agreement, they cannot. This is of particular concern given CHT's reliance on UNC funds and routing. The current plan does not allow CHT to use sales tax funds to change their routes to fill in possible gaps created by changes in UNC''s routes.
Its hard to understand why this is coming up for the first time -but at least people may finally start talking about how the transit plan impacts CHT and the bus system that everyone loves. Its especially difficult to understand why the county is so anxious to give control over transit to TTA.
Great report by Chapelboro's Elizabeth Friend
http://chapelboro.com/pages/14273726.php
The video of the meeting is a worth a look
http://orange-nc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=355
I'm surprised no one has yet posted comments about the following article by Mark Schultz that appeared in Chapel Hill News. Chapel Hill Town Council has taken many principled positions on contentious national issues such as gay rights or gun control, to name two. Why not Palestine? Where does this community stand on the issue of free speech? Why is it OK to take positions on some issues, but not others? In this case the town itself is not actually taking a position, but allowing a local church to pay for ads that say the following: “Join with us. Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” It's a simple message quite in keeping with many of the values Chapel Hillians hold dear. Should the town censor this particular kind of speech on town buses?
Town leaders will discuss their policy for bus advertising after an ad calling for an end of U.S. military aid to Israel drew complaints.
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