Columnist Jeff German: Officials disregard freedom of speech

Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 4:24 a.m.

IF THERE's one thing elected leaders should value more than anything else in a democracy, it's freedom of speech.

They come into office, after all, as a result of the ultimate right of free expression -- the right to vote.

At City Hall last week, your elected leaders made it clear that they're more concerned about protecting casino profits at the struggling Fremont Street Experience than protecting the public's right to freedom of speech.

City Council members showed us that they're even willing to spend the public's money trying to weaken that First Amendment right.

They voted last week to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court decision declaring the Fremont Street Experience a public forum.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that anyone has the right of free expression on the $70-million pedestrian mall, including those who want to pass out racy handbills promoting outcall services.

The ruling stemmed from a six-year legal battle between the city and the American Civil Liberties Union over First Amendment activities at the Fremont Street Experience.

It exposed as hypocrites city officials who used more than $48.5 million in public funds in the construction of the four-block mall, but then declared it a private business venture to ban annoying handbillers who officials contended were bad for business downtown.

In defending the appeal to the Supreme Court, Mayor Oscar Goodman acknowledged that county leaders, despite a concerted legal challenge, couldn't stop the outcall services from passing out fliers on the Strip and that the city's chances of stopping them weren't good, either.

Being the sharp lawyer that he is, Goodman knows that the Supreme Court and federal appeals panels around the country all understand that you can't trample on the fundamental right to free expression at a public forum simply because that expression is bad for business.

In this case city officials haven't even demonstrated that handbillers have financially hurt Fremont Street. Handbillers are rampant in some areas of the Strip, but you don't hear casinos there crying that they're losing customers. Business is better than ever on the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard.

If the city wants to blame someone for Fremont Street's declining revenues, it should blame itself for its lack of foresight and its dismal downtown redevelopment record.

And it should blame the casinos on Fremont Street for their poor marketing strategies and failure to reinvest the kind of capital necessary to make their properties more attractive to tourists.

Going into last week's vote, City Council members also had to know that it's very unlikely the Supreme Court will even hear their appeal. The court receives thousands of appeals each year and is very choosy about which cases it takes up.

Yet despite the odds the city is willing to spend still more taxpayer money fighting this losing battle.

Allen Lichtenstein, the local ACLU's general counsel, said the city and the Fremont Street Experience already have been ordered to reimburse his organization $86,000 in District Court legal fees in the six-year First Amendment battle. When the fees in the appeals process ultimately are added up, that figure will rise to well over $100,000, he said.

This is money that could have been spent more wisely making improvements to Fremont Street or assisting businesses the city ran out of Fremont Street to make life better for the casinos.

What is most troubling about all of this, however, is not the waste of taxpayer money. It's having to watch city leaders demonstrate a complete disregard for something as important as freedom of speech.

They should give up this ridiculous fight and start treating the Fremont Street Experience as a resource for everyone -- not just the casinos.