Baltimore police tell teacher to stop leafleting at Inner Harbor

www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-inner-harbor-leaflets-20110526,0,2915796.story

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Baltimore police tell teacher to stop leafleting at Inner Harbor

Dispute highlights eight-year-old dispute over free speech

By Peter Hermann, The Baltimore Sun

7:27 PM EDT, May 27, 2011

Go to baltimoresun.com to see Bruce Friedrich's video of the leaflet encounter with a police officer at the Inner Harbor.

Bruce Friedrich, a teacher and a member of an animal-rights group, wants people to eat vegetarian. And so last Sunday he and six like-minded friends handed out more than 1,000 leaflets near the National Aquarium at the Inner Harbor.

Their attempt to educate tourists and shoppers about their cause lasted about an hour. Security guards asked them to leave. Friedrich, who lives in Remington, said a Baltimore police officer threatened to arrest him, and even pulled out his handcuffs.

The ninth-grade teacher at Baltimore Freedom Academy, a city charter school, was unwittingly caught up in a pitched battle over what can be said, how it can be said and where it can be said at Baltimore's premier waterfront attraction.

What may seem like a cohesive, unrestricted promenade actually contains a hidden patchwork of quasi-private and public spaces, with different rules in different places governing demonstrations, distributing leaflets, begging, vending and soliciting.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city in federal court in 2003 over what it says are restrictive free-speech rules in what it regards as a public park. Eight years later, the two sides are still engaged in talks meant to clarify how the First Amendment applies to the Inner Harbor.

"We're looking forward to the lawsuit being settled so everyone knows what the rules are," said Laurie Schwartz, the head of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, a group that promotes the harbor, helps to keep it clean and employs security guards.

She said that when the lawsuit is finally settled, "We've asked for attorneys involved to conduct extensive training for our guides and for police. There are a lot of various park rules specific to the harbor, and nuances within those rules."

David Rocah, a staff attorney with Maryland's ACLU chapter, considers the entire harbor area public space. "The rules are not the only relevant issue here," he said. "There's also a Constitution to consider."

Regardless of which business or institution claims ownership of a particular spot along the waterfront, Rocah said, "it doesn't change my view of it being a public forum where traditional First Amendment free-speech rules apply."

He described settlement negotiations as "agonizingly slow" but said "we're a hair's breadth away from resolving the case." William R. Phelan Jr., an attorney with the city solicitor's office, agreed that a settlement is near.

One matter already settled is McKeldin Square, a brick plaza at the southeast corner of Pratt and Light streets. That is the designated "protest zone," where up to 25 people can gather without a permit and demonstrate. More people can assemble there with a permit.

When police officers ordered protesters holding "Peace is Patriotic" signs to disperse in September 2009, city officials quickly admitted that they had erred, apologized and ordered the officers to remedial training.

But what happened to Friedrich on May 22 is more difficult to resolve.

Aside from being a teacher, he also is a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, though he said that on that day he was handing out leaflets on his own. He was joined by his wife, Alka Chandna.

Friedrich said the group was on a pedestrian bridge between the power plant and the Aquarium — in what is known as Area 10. The aquarium defines it as the space in front of its main building between the ticket booth and the World Trade Center and extending to Pratt Street. The ACLU says Area 10 is limited to a grassy area near the ticket booth.

The teacher contends that the Waterfront Partnership allows people to hand out noncommercial material in Area 10. Schwartz and an aquarium spokeswoman say it does not. They say that Area 10 is a city-owned parcel of land leased to the aquarium, and they treat it as private property.

"We have jurisdiction over that area," said aquarium spokeswoman Jen Bloomer. "We have the right to control the activities that go on there. We reserve the right to stop all activity. … We're very polite in the way we interact with these individuals. We give them advice on where they can go."

Being precise about locale is vital. The rules — called "special conditions for Inner Harbor Park, Inner Harbor Park Promenade and Waterfront Promenade" — require GPS-like knowledge to comprehend.

Leafleting, according to those rules by the Department of Recreation and Parks, "may occur only on the interior one-half ('landside') of the Promenade from the concrete strip immediately west of the World Trade Center to the point where the Promenade turns to the southwest and from where the Promenade turns from the southwest to the south and then east up and including Rash Field."

When confronted by security guards, Friedrich said, he produced Waterfront Partnership rules showing that leafleting was allowed in Area 10. He tried to explain that to the police officer who came to settle the dispute, but was rebuffed. He said he had stopped handing out pamphlets by the time the officer arrived, but was still ordered out of the Inner Harbor.

"Leave the property right now," the officer said, according to a brief video Friedrich captured on his cell phone and posted to his Facebook page. "That's the second lawful order. I'm not going to give you a third one."

Friedrich only got the officer's last name — Johnson — and badge number, and a couple of still pictures of himself being handed either a citation or a citizen contact form, a type of receipt that documents the stop. Friedrich said the officer warned him not to take his picture and threatened him by taking out his handcuffs.

"It was very intimidating," said Friedrich, who believes the officer violated both the rules of the Waterfront Partnership and his free-speech rights. "Even after we put away our leaflets, he ordered us to leave. He refused to explain to us what we were doing wrong, even after we no longer posed a threat for passing out vegetarian literature. The officer was an extraordinarily bad ambassador for Baltimore."

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department's attorney has reviewed Friedrich's video, pictures and lengthy statement. He said the incident and the officer's response are being reviewed, but he also cautioned that the video only shows a few seconds of the encounter.

"We're ambassadors to the city of Baltimore," Guglielmi said, noting that the teacher was not arrested. "We want people to come to the harbor. At the same time, we're not going to tolerate anything inappropriate at the harbor."

The ACLU's Rocah called the idea "staggering" that leafleting could be restricted at a public gathering place such as the Inner Harbor. "It's scary that anyone could ask that question in this country."

He declined to discuss details of the settlement talks with the city, but said the existing rules governing speech at the harbor do not conform to the Constitution. He hopes to have "new rules that are clear, understandable and easily enforceable."

peter.hermann@baltsun.com

Copyright © 2011, The Baltimore Sun

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