Friday, September 28, 2012
According to East Greenwich charter, political signs are not allowed on Main Street, although commercial signs are,
It seems both the American Civil Liberties Union and the president of the East Greenwich Town Council are in agreement: the ordinance prohibiting political signs on Main Street is unconstitutional. "I don't think the town has ever tried to enforce restrictions because there are constitutional issues," said Town Council President Michael Isaacs earlier this week. He was responding to information that the Rhode Island ACLU's Steve Brown had said restricting political signs more than commercial signs was a violation of free speech. The East Greenwich ordinance prohibits signs downtown (CD zone) and on Post Road (CH zone) and reads: Any sign displayed so as to advise voters of a candidate or position in a forthcoming election. Political signs…
Friday, September 21, 2012
Some say the old “gentleman’s agreement” against the use of signs came to an end the first time EG’s Donald Carcieri ran for governor, but it may have been a letter from the ACLU.
'Tis the season when political yard signs sprout up far and wide across East Greenwich. It wasn’t always so. Twenty years ago, longtime residents say, no candidates used yard signs to gain visibility and win votes. That changed, though the reason for the change isn’t completely clear. Some in town say the change came after then-EG resident Donald Carcieri first ran for governor in 2002. But there’s evidence the change came after the Town was admonished in 2004 that its sign ordinance was unconstitutional. A letter from the Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU (addressed to former Town Solicitor Edmund Alves although he had been replaced by Peter Clarkin by then), said: "Our office received a complaint from an East Greenwich resident last …
Thursday, September 20, 2012
In her role as president of R.I. NOW, School Committee candidate Carolyn Mark co-signed the letter with the ACLU urging Cranston schools to stop supporting gender-specific events.
Carolyn Mark, East Greenwich School Committee candidate, co-signed the now-famous letter sent last May to the Cranston School Department decrying a father-daughter-type dance at a public school there. Mark signed the letter, along with the ACLU's Stephen Brown, in her capacity as president of R.I. NOW. The letter was in response to a mother’s complaint that the dance unfairly excluded her daughter, who she said had no adult male to accompany her. “She called us to express concerns about an upcoming event that has been scheduled by the school PTO group. Although we do not expect anything to be done before that event takes place, both the ACLU and RI NOW share her concerns. We are therefore writing to request that you intervene to address …
Friday, January 13, 2012
A federal judge ordered the Cranston school department to remove a painted "school prayer" from the Cranston West auditorium — what do you think?
On Wednesday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux ruled that the "school prayer" painted on a wall of the Cranston High School West auditorium should be immediately removed, finding that the prayer mural violates a 1962 Supreme Court decision banning prayer in public schools. (Click here to read the full text of Lagueux's decision.) The decision — and the public discussion leading up to it — has been a flashpoint for debate over the separation of church and state, and the "historical" value of the prayer mural, which Lagueux noted was affixed to the wall in 1963. "No amount of debate can make the School Prayer anything other than a prayer, and a Christian one at that," Lagueux added. What do you think? Should the Prayer …
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EG Lurker
2:55 pm on Friday, September 28, 2012
Rather than make it a political vs. commercial sign issue, why isn't the ordinance worded to deal with "temporary" signs? Because that's really the issue here, is it not? more ›