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ACLU takes on city over Gateway Center sign display
Wednesday, March 03, 1999 By Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
If you agree with the ACLU's definition of a public forum, Downtown Pittsburgh has a new free speech zone.
A grassy triangle of land in Gateway Center, which has hosted Nativity scenes for the past three Christmases, is what is known in First Amendment lingo as a designated public forum.
Since last week, the site has featured a sign erected by PANDA, a new political action committee that will support political candidates who want to reverse suburban sprawl, restore traditional towns and historic buildings and improve transportation by using the region's railways.
"We're against using public monies to build highways that open up farmland for real estate speculation," said David Tessitor, PANDA's founder. The acronym stands for Pittsburgh Area New Direction Alternative.
To erect the sign, PANDA enlisted the help of Witold "Vic" Walczak, executive director of the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
If the city allows religious demonstrations such as a creche in that area, it cannot deny other organizations a chance to leave unattended displays there, Walczak told the mayor in a letter last month.
"You can't discriminate against speech based on content," Walczak said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Tessitor, of McCandless, sought permission from city officials to erect the sign, which says, "Will the last person leaving Pittsburgh please turn out the lights!"
Initially, Tessitor said, he was told that the city would remove the sign and fine PANDA $350 per day.
After becoming PANDA's lawyer, Walczak notified Murphy last month that the area was a public forum.
The City of Pittsburgh, Walczak said, lacks an ordinance that restricts any unattended displays on that site with respect to the length of time they can remain or their placement.
"The area is a public forum because the city has allowed it to be a public forum," Walczak said, adding that once a government allows one unattended display such as a creche, it cannot prohibit other displays just because it may disagree with the message.
The land is owned by the city but is leased and cared for by Gateway Management Group Inc. The site is bounded by Stanwix Street and Liberty Avenue.
But the city, Walczak said, "is exercising dominion and control over it. They are the ones who authorized the placement of the Nativity scene. They are also the ones who initially refused permission for PANDA to place their sign. They must think they've got some legal rights to it."
Walczak was not certain if the Ku Klux Klan could stage a demonstration on the grassy triangle.
But, he said, "The Klan could clearly come in and put up some unattended displays as could any of the 750 judges who are running for office in Allegheny County," Walczak said.
The city needs to draft an ordinance that governs the time, place and manner of any unattended display on the site, Walczak said.
Otherwise, Walczak said, "Anytime the city says no, it's going to be unconstitutional. They better get some rules quick."
PANDA wants the sign to stay up through May, when the primary is held.
To obtain a city permit, Tessitor said, he went to the city's Department of General Services and the Department of Public Works.
He conferred with a planner in the Department of Engineering and Construction.
City Solicitor Jacqueline Morrow said yesterday that the city might ultimately object to the display but would allow the sign to remain up for the time being.
"I have to wait until I finish doing the research and then we'll respond to Vic," Morrow said.
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