Help Stop City Council from shutting down St. Pete weekly peace vigil!

[carols]

BAYWALK IS TRYING TO SHUT DOWN OUR PROTESTS!

Baywalk and the St Petersburg City Council are attempting to prevent us from protesting at our regular spot on Saturday nights at Baywalk. In essence, they want to make it illegal to protest on the public sidewalk in front of the shopping complex. Once again, our civil liberties are being challenged, and once again we will resist until our freedoms are preserved!
Read St Pete Times article:
http://sptimes.com/2004/07/20/Southpinellas/St_Petersburg_conside.shtml

ACTIONS:
1) Take the SP Times Poll that asks if officials should implement no-protest zones near Bay Walk.
http://sptimes.com/2004/07/20/Southpinellas/St_Petersburg_conside.shtml

2) Send a letter to the SP Times editor. You can do this online by clicking here:
http://www.sptimes.com/letters/


3) This Wednesday 6pm we will march to Baywalk from our Wednesday peace cornering at Central and 4th St. Please bring a sign focusing on 'free speech' (we'll bring sign making material as well.)

4) Special meeting this Thursday July 22nd from 7-9pm to discuss our gameplan. Sojourner Truth Center, 1621 16th Street, S. Everyone who wants to be involved in preserving our 1st Amendment rights is encouraged to attend and participate.

5) Our regular Baywalk protest this Saturday evening from 7-9pm. Let's get some people out there and make some noise!

St. Pete for Peace (http://www.stpeteforpeace.org) invites all groups who value free speech to help with one or more of these actions. Please be there Saturday if you can!

We will have details soon on an email/phone calling campaign to the City Council, media, etc. I will keep emails to a minimum, so please
keep an eye on the St. Pete for Peace website http://stpeteforpeace.org/ for updates and actions.

Let's stay focused for a couple weeks. Our resistance is strong and will get even stronger as we stand up for civil liberties and peace!

Peace

SAMPLE LETTER TO THE EDITOR (they won't print duplicates, so make modifications you feel appropriate):
I was astonished to hear that the city of St. Petersburg, in conjunction with Baywalk officials, is attempting to stifle freedom of speech by not allowing the St. Peace for Peace anti-war protestors to protest in front of Baywalk (throwing in Tropicana Field was just a diversionary tactic). Protesting on the sidewalk is not a public safety hazard. What is a hazard and a crime is an attempt by Baywalk and the city of St Petersburg to suppress the civil rights of individuals who wish to proclaim their views on the current war on Iraq. Officials say that these zones won't place illegal limits on freedom of speech, but they are wrong. If individuals cannot protest on a public sidewalk, where they choose, this is a direct contradiction to the rights granted all Americans in the first amendment (freedom of speech and freedom of assembly). Aside from the fact that this proposed law appears to violate state and federal constitutions, Baywalk and the city of St Petersburg cannot be allowed to curb the civil rights of its citizens based on an erroneous supposition that protestors are creating a public safety hazard. By proposing this law, they are imposing a public safety hazard on the civil rights of all Americans.

[Gman]

1. I suggest you post this in GD

rather than here to get everyone's attention to DU the poll.

[ornotna]

2. Done

Thanks for the heads up.