FIRE: “Residents of Belleair Beach in Florida can now gather on public property for “political” events — even if the group is larger than nine people.
FIRE wrote the Belleair Beach city council last March concerning its now-repealed ordinance banning “commercial, political, or organized” events of 10 or more people on public property. In other words, the law closed off all the city’s public spaces — parks, plazas, streets, sidewalks — to even relatively small political protests, rallies, and similar events. And gatherings of at least 10 people that weren’t “commercial, political, or organized” (how often are gatherings not “organized”?) required a permit….
To the city’s credit, it quickly responded to our letter and pledged to amend the ordinance to eliminate its unconstitutional flaws. Over the next several months, FIRE and Belleair Beach worked together on a new ordinance that protects citizens’ First Amendment rights while promoting the city’s interest in reasonably regulating the time, place, and manner of speech on public property.”