On Thursday October 26th, the Assemble for Rights Coaltion sent letters to every member of the New York City Council asking for their support in opposing the NYPD's new parade permitting rules, and asking them to back the New York City First Amendment Act. Along with the letter the Coalition sent a copy of the proposed legislation and a summary of the legislation's origin and intended effect.
Click the read more to read the cover letter.
Letitia James (35th district, Brooklyn, Working Families Party) announced her support for Assemble for Rights' legislation, the New York City First Amendment Act. No suprise that "Tish" James is standing up against the NYPD power grab. Councilwoman James is a former public defender with the Legal Aid Society in New York and a founder of the Urban Network, a coalition of minority professional organizations that raises money and distributes college scholarships to inner city youth. Her constituants in Brooklyn can be proud of her vocal sup
On October 18th, the NYPD published new rules to govern public gathering. Here is the text of the rules change:
A "parade [or procession]" is: 1) any [march, motorcade, caravan, promenade, foot or bicycle race, or similar event of any kind,] procession or race which consists of a group of ten or more pedestrians, vehicles, bicycles or other devices moved by human power, or ridden or herded animals proceeding together upon any public street or roadway for more than two city blocks in a manner that does not comply with all applicable traffic laws, rules and regulations; or 2) any procession or race which consists of a recongnizable group of 30 or more vehicles, bicycles or other devices moved by human power, or ridden or herded animals proceeding together upon any public street or roadway
This is an amendment to Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 19-02 of Title 38 of the Official Compilation of the Rules of the City of New York.
Put more simply here is what the new rule are:
1) Groups of 10 or more bicyclists or pedestrians who plan to travel more than two city blocks without complying with traffic laws will require a permit or be subject to arrest.
2) Groups of 30 or more bicyclists or vehicles which obey traffic laws will also require a permit or be subject to arrest.
A copy of the posted Police Department notice of these rule changes is available here
The NYPD is required to host a public hearing of this rule change. That hearing is scheduled for November 27th.
Today the NYPD issued the following notice:
"In view of comments already received on the proposed revision to Chapter 19 of Title 38 of the Official Compilation of Rules of the City of New York, the Police Department has withdrawn the proposed revisions regarding parade permits and will publish new ones in the City Record narrower in scope with a new hearing date. As a result, the public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2006 has been cancelled."
This is verified by Susan Howard of the National Lawyers Guild and Transportation Alternatives.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelley’s NYPD canceled a public hearing which had been scheduled for August 23rd. The hearing was going to allow public comment on a change in the rules of the City of New York. The rule withdrawn by the NYPD wanted to make two people jaywalking subject to arrest as an unauthorized parade.
The cancellation came the day after three city council members, Rosy Mendez, Alan Gerson, and Gale Brewer, spoke out against the proposed changes at an event known as the “People’s Public Forum.”
The Forum was organized by a diverse coalition of groups including United for Peace and Justice, the National Lawyers Guild, the NYC Bike Coalition, and the Coalition of NYC Blogs. All three city council people called on the public to attend the hearing on the 23rd.
The NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information issued a statement which read;
In view of comments already received on the proposed revision to Chapter 19 of Title 38 of the Official Compilation of Rules of the City of New York, the Police Department has withdrawn the proposed revisions regarding parade permits and will publish new ones in the City Record narrower in scope with a new hearing date. As a result, the public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2006 has been cancelled.
It is not clear a narrower proposal would be satisfactory to the concerned organizations and individuals. Norman Siegel spoke at last night’s Forum and denounced the use of rule making power by Commissioner Kelly to define the laws. Siegel emphasized that defining the law is the proper role of the City Council and not the NYPD.
“If the City Council doesn’t take the proper role here, they’ve sold us out on a fundamental issue of our right to protest,” Siegel said. “We don’t lose our civil liberties with a big bang. We lose them incrementally and quietly.”
Councilman Alan Gerson has already proposed introducing legislation into the City Council, based on, Washington D.C.’s parading law, which would trump Commissioner Kelly’s rulemaking power by changing the Parade Permitting law within the Administrative Code.
Did you know that the New York City Police Department plans to put new severe restrictions on sidewalk and street use? Possibly as soon as August 24th?
The NYPD's New Rules
Under the guise of protecting the public safety, the New York City Police Department plans to expand its control over protest activity by labeling many common street and side walk uses as a "parade". If put into effect, these new rules will greatly suppress the right to assembly and expose peaceful protestors as well as regular people to arrest for things as simple as crossing the street against the light.
Under the NYPD's proposed rules:
* Any group of two (yes, 2) or more cyclists or pedestrians traveling down a public street, who violate any traffic law, rule or regulation can be arrested for parading without a permit.
* Any group of 20 or more cyclists must obtain a permit and approved route from the NYPD or would be subject to arrest
* Every group of 35 of more pedestrians must obtain a permit and approved route from the NYPD or would be subject to arrest
These rules could go into effect as soon as August 24th, 2006.
This matter is urgent. We implore all NYers to attend an important public hearing on August 23rd and contact their elected officials right away and tell them to stop the police from creating these rules. Details about the August 23rd event and how to contact your elected officials are in the side menu on the right.
Join Us In Spreading the Word!
Other websites are carrying the message of this site. We invite all other New Yorkers to help get out word of this plan, and let people know what they can do to stop it from going into effect. Blog about it, email it, comment about it on other sites, link to this site. You can use the graphic in the side menu on your site to help draw people's attention to this issue. If you blog about this issue or put the graphic on your site, and want to be listed here, let us know! You can email us at assembleforrights -at- yahoo.com.
How These Rules Will Suppress Free Speech
Parade regulation was established to regulate special non-traffic use of the streets. These rules would give the police the power to arrest and detain people for things as common as walking and biking and will essentially give the NYPD carte blanche to arrest any two or more persons they want.
These rules would quash spontaneous gatherings as people would be required to file for permits months in advance. Additionally requiring small groups to navigate the police bureaucracy and negotiate the particulars of their events: which side walk they will be on, where they will make turns, how long they will be there, is an overly high burden on our rights to assembly and speech asserted by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
In addition to protest activity the new rules will affect:
* Thousands of formal and informal runs, walks, walk-a-thons, charity runs, tours and bike rides * Thousands of routine training runs and bike rides
* School field trips
* School walks to the park
* Site seeing tours
* Historical, cultural, environmental & neighborhood walks and tours
* Funerals
How To Address Concerns about Public Safety
Since the new rules were announced, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has steadfastly rationalized the rules as necessary for maintaining the public safety. Citing the NYPD's tangle with the monthly bike ride Critical Mass, Kelly says these rules are needed to insure that emergency vehicles like ambulances are able to navigate the city streets free of unlawful protest. The NYPD is fond of accusing Critical Mass bike riders of blocking emergency vehicles. Not only could this not be further from the truth, the NYPD is using Critical Mass as a red herring for promulgating new rules which will have broad effects on numerous groups and activities. They are overreaching.
We applaud the Police Commissioner for raising the issue of emergency vehicle access. But Emergency Vehicle access is a problem that has nothing to do with protests or bike rides. Every day ambulances and fire trucks sit in automobile traffic jams throughout Manhattan. It is a problem with the Department of Transportation's inability to control and manage traffic, with no mechanism other than vehicle sirens to alert automobile drivers to clear the streets. This is not a problem that will be solved by suppressing public assembly.
We believe the Mayor and NYPD and the DOT would do better to simply enforce the existing traffic rules and find ways to outfit every major street in Manhattan with a bus lane reserved for only mass transit and emergency vehicles.
Additionally, the Mayor and NYPD do not need these new rules to secure the public safety from unlawful protest. Any protesters intentionally obstructing traffic are already breaking the law, engaging in civil disobedience, and subject to arrest. However cyclists going at a normal pace should not be considered "obstructing traffic".
The Police Do Not Have The Right To Make These Rules
The Police and Mayor actually do not have the right to create these rules. This is the domain of city council. Commissioner Ray Kelly can change regulations, but he can not change statute. The Mayor and Police are only empowered to promulgate regulations to enforce the statute. The NYPD's new rules go well beyond enforcement, they seek to redefine the statute. Should the Police put these rules into effect after August 23rd the Mayor via the police department will have established law without the involvement of city council. If this comes to pass, the City Council must stand up and assert itself as the legislating body.
Get Involved!
NYCLU, Transportation Alternatives, Drum Major Institute, Time's Up, and a growing number of grassroots groups are calling on the NYPD to withdraw this plan, and if they will not, these groups want City Council to stop the NYPD. We join this chorus of voices that oppose these new rules and call on the NYPD to abandon their plan.
There is an important public hearing August 23rd, we implore people to attend. The police could begin enforcing these rules as soon as August 24th. We also implore people to find five minutes to call their elected officials, their city councilor, city council speaker Chris Quinn, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
See for yourself what the new NYPD Parade Rules say about your rights. Then check out Transportation Alternatives' call to action on how to fight them:
To testify, send notice to: Assistant Deputy Commissioner Thomas P. Doepfner New York City Police Department 1 Police Plaza, Room 1406 New York, NY 10038.
State that you intend to testify in opposition to the NYPD's proposed changes to Chapter 19 of Title 38 of the Official Compilation of Rules of the City of New York at the public hearing on August 23, 2006 at 6pm at 1 Police Plaza.
AssembleforRightsNYC will be releasing a statement this week about these rules to raise awareness of this issues across the city.
