Another Mall Into Censorship

DoreneFC at aol.com DoreneFC at aol.com
Sat Mar 15 13:18:07 PST 2003


Local News: Thursday, March 13, 2003

Westlake mall limits access to

protesters

By Eric Sorensen

Seattle Times staff reporter

Westlake Park may well be

Seattle's soapbox, the central

rallying point of anti-war vigils

and other protests.

But just next door is Westlake Center, a privately

owned shopping mall that would just as soon not see

the hurly-burly of public debate visited on its

customers.

The center has cracked down on protesters passing

through the mall on their way to and from the

monorail station on the center's top floor. Yesterday,

the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington told

Mayor Greg Nickels the center is violating city law

by telling people they cannot display anti-war signs

and, in one case, an anti-war button in the downtown

mall.

The ACLU also complained to the center, asking it to

tell its guards "that the job of providing mall security

does not include filtering out customers based on

their political viewpoint."

The center says that, in barring protest signs, it is

not acting on any attitude toward a possible Iraq war

but a desire to provide a safe, friendly place for

shoppers.

"It really has nothing to do with politics or trying to

make any type of pro- or against statement or

anti-statement," said Brenda Klein, the center's

general manager. "It really truly is protecting and

providing a friendly shopping environment for our

people to be in."

"The city needs to deal with this," said Doug Honig,

the ACLU of Washington's communications director,

"that people go to the city's only central gathering

place and afterwards need to use the monorail and

they get hassled by security people for carrying

signs."

The ACLU says several people told how guards

approached them as they waited to board the

monorail on Feb. 15 and told them they could not

have signs and would have to leave.

Beth Sanders, who works for Government

Accountability Project, which protects free speech of

government workers, said she was told to put her

sign down while waiting to board the monorail on the

way to a rally at Seattle Center. When she refused,

she said, "it proceeded to escalate quickly."

Sanders said she was first told the sign might harm

her 10-year-old daughter, or that it could hurt other

people in line. Then, she says, she was told, "You'll

scare the shoppers."

She was told to leave, which she promised to do —

by the monorail. Finally, when her daughter and

another girl grew frightened, she put her sign down

but was still told she was banned from the mall. She

did manage to leave by the monorail.

She said her husband, who is a lawyer, has since

found an agreement under which the Westlake

owners give the city public access through the center

to the monorail.

Another person told the ACLU that on March 6 he

was told he could not wear a small "no war" pin. The

center's Klein said she does not know of the incident

and that pins are allowed if they are not offensive.

In a letter sent yesterday to Nickels, Washington

ACLU Executive Director Kathleen Taylor said

ordering a law-abiding person to leave "simply

because the owner does not want the person to

express political views" is a violation of the city's

open-housing and public-accommodations ordinance.

The ordinance forbids barring the use of a public

accommodation because of a person's "political

ideology."

"The Westlake Mall's crackdown on free speech is

surprising and distressing in a city that prides itself

on political engagement and tolerance for diverse

viewpoints," Taylor wrote.

Regina LaBelle, counsel to the mayor, said

complaints to the city will be handled by the Office

for Civil Rights.

Retailers regionwide are leery of protesters.

The Simon Property Group, owner of the Northgate

and Tacoma malls, would allow an anti-war T-shirt if

its wearer did not appear to be at a mall to protest,

said Lynn Castle, regional director of marketing,

community and public relations.

The Simon Group views protests as a "disruption of

the shopping experience," she said. If someone

were carrying a sign on a stick, said Castle, "that

would be something that we take as a political

action, and we would ask the person to leave."

Exceptions are made for people who are asking

customers to sign initiative petitions, but the

signature gatherers must first fill out proper mall

paperwork and have insurance.

Bellevue Square, the largest mall on the Eastside,

doesn't allow signature gathering or surveying,

honoring what it considers the customer's right "not

to be interrupted," said spokeswoman Anne Marie

Peacock.

But, according to the ACLU's Honig, the Westlake

situation is special, because the sign-carriers were

simply passing through and weren't protesting.

However, the shopping center's Klein said people

with signs can avoid walking into the center by

simply using a ground-floor elevator directly to the

elevated monorail platform.

Eric Sorensen: 206-464-8253 or

esorensen at seattletimes.com

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