WE'VE CARRIED THE RICH, ETC. v. City of Philadelphia

• Citation: 414 F. Supp. 611
• Decision Date: 15 June 1976
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 76-1711.
• Parties: WE'VE CARRIED THE RICH FOR 200 YEARS, LET'S GET THEM OFF OUR BACKS—JULY 4th COALITION v. The CITY OF PHILADELPHIA and The Commissioners of Fairmount Park.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

414 F. Supp. 611

WE'VE CARRIED THE RICH FOR 200 YEARS, LET'S GET THEM OFF OUR BACKS—JULY 4th COALITION v. The CITY OF PHILADELPHIA and The Commissioners of Fairmount Park.

Civ. A. No. 76-1711.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

June 15, 1976.

Robert M. Fishman, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiffs.

Stephen Saltz, Asst. City Sol., Philadelphia, Pa., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

McGLYNN, District Judge.

Philadelphia is the focal point for the celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Independence of the United States. Beginning January 1, 1976, a continuous series of programs and activities memorializing historic events and the growth of the nation has taken place and will continue to take place throughout the remainder of the Bicentennial Year. The high point, of course, will be the July 4th celebration, when hundreds of thousands of citizens, including the President of the United States, are expected to come to Philadelphia to demonstrate their dedication to the principles upon which this nation was founded.

The plaintiffs, who are an amalgam of self-styled dissidents,¹ desire to engage in a counter demonstration for the avowed purpose of dramatizing the injustices of the American System as it has evolved over the last two centuries. The targets of their rhetoric are an undefined class of persons designated as the "Rich". In the language of one of their broadsides, plaintiffs proclaim that they "will fight them (the Rich) on the day they choose to celebrate their bloodsoaked rule. We will come together thousands strong, to expose their crimes and build our movement, on that day and for the great battles ahead. On to Philadelphia." (D-1)

Pursuing these objectives, plaintiffs have requested the City or the Fairmount Park Commission to provide:

1. A permit for a parade beginning at 10:00 A.M. on July 4, 1976 involving 5,000 to 10,000 persons and following a route beginning on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to 16th Street to John F. Kennedy Boulevard to 15th Street around City Hall to Broad Street, south on Broad Street to Walnut Street, and east on Walnut Street to Washington Square. (P-8)

2. A permit to use Washington Square Park at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution for a rally of 5,000 to 10,000 people between the hours of 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. on July 4, 1976. (P-1)

3. A permit for a rock concert or cultural-political event to be held on Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park from 7:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. on July 3. (P-3), (P-9)

4. A permit to erect a tent city housing 2,000 people along Benjamin Franklin Parkway or in Fairmount Park for the period June 25, 1976 to July 6, 1976. (P-2)

5. A permit to erect a canopy-covered pavilion measuring 75' × 75' in Washington Square Park to graphically display the role of the working class.

The City and the Park Commission rejected these applications but offered alternative plans which the plaintiffs deem unacceptable. Plaintiffs then brought this action asserting a violation of their First Amendment Rights and they ask the Court to compel the City and the Fairmount Park Commission to issue the permits as requested.

DISCUSSION

As a point of departure, it would be well to remember that the use of streets, parks, and other public places ". . . has, from ancient times, been a part of the privileges, immunities, rights, and liberties of citizens." Hague v. CIO, 307 U.S. 496, 515, 59 S.Ct. 954, 964, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (1939). But we must also keep in mind, the admonition of Mr. Justice Goldberg speaking for the Court in Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 536, 85 S.Ct. 453, 13 L.Ed.2d 471 (1965), that "the rights of free speech and assembly, while fundamental in our democratic society, still do not mean that everyone with opinions or beliefs to express may address a group at any public place and at any time. The constitutional guarantee of liberty implies the existence of an organized society maintaining public order, without which liberty itself would be lost in the excesses of anarchy." 379 U.S. at 554, 85 S.Ct. at 464.

I THE PARADE PERMIT

Unfortunately, the plaintiffs' proposed line of march would bring them into direct conflict with a myriad of scheduled bicentennial activities, including services at Christ Church in the morning, a speech by the President of the United States at Independence Mall, and a 6 to 8 hour parade involving 50,000 participants and an estimated 300,000 spectators sponsored by Philadelphia '76 Incorporated, the Bicentennial Agency of the City of Philadelphia.

If anything is clear in the area of freedom of expression, it is that two parades cannot march on the same street simultaneously and the city may allow only one. Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U.S. 569, 576, 61 S.Ct. 762, 85 L.Ed. 1049, 1053, 133 A.L.R. 1396 (1941).

While plaintiffs seem to concede this point, they have rejected any alternate route² which will not bring them into close proximity to the spectators and participants in the officially scheduled bicentennial activities.

The influx of hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of vehicles³ into the bicentennial area⁴ on July 4th will present traffic and crowd control problems of the greatest magnitude. The additional burden of providing for plaintiffs' groups on a separate march route in the impacted area may prove insurmountable. Even peripheral contact between the two groups of marchers and/or spectators can cause confusion and affect the orderly progress of the parades.

Furthermore, I cannot overlook the fact that the vast majority of the people that day will be exercising First Amendment Rights by attending and participating in the officially sponsored activities. It seems to me that they ought to be free to do so without fear of interference from those who wish to promote an opposing view.

Moreover, in light of the plaintiffs' militant attitude and provocative posture as exemplified in their broadside (D-1), common sense dictates that the two parades should be kept separate in order to avoid any untoward incident which would trigger a confrontation and disrupt the peaceful activities of either or both groups.

Weighing the rights of the plaintiffs to express their grievances by a parade and rally against the competing First Amendment Rights of those attending the official ceremonies and taking into account the City's proper concern for public order and personal safety, I am persuaded that the plaintiffs should be permitted to hold their parade and rally but not within twelve (12) blocks of the regularly sponsored activities. If none of the three alternate routes proposed by the City are accepted by the plaintiffs, I will enter an Order directing the City to issue to the plaintiffs a permit for a parade to commence at 10:00 A.M. which will assemble and begin at Broad Street and Girard Avenue and march in an easterly direction on the north side of Girard Avenue (westbound lanes) to Second Street, north on Second Street Street to Susquehanna and...