Demonstrators are suing the city after the NYPD rejected their application to protest charter schools and school closings directly in front of Mayor Bloomberg's Upper East Side townhouse. The plaintiffs claim the NYPD "unconstitutionally and without any legal basis" denied their application to march single file on both sides of 79th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenue on Jan. 21. "Our voices haven't been heard, so we thought that the best way for the mayor to hear us would be for us to take our voices to his block," said protester Julie Cavanagh.
According to the Times, the NYPD attempted to compromise with the demonstrators by allowing them to march on the south side of 79th Street, but not directly in front of the Mayor's residence on the north side of the street. But the group turned down the offer because rallies against the closure of firehouses were allowed on the north side in 2003 (many other permits for protests on the north side of the street have since been rejected). "The larger issue is clear: Can a public sidewalk be transformed into a private enclave because the mayor of New York lives there?" asked lawyer and failed public advocate candidate Norman Siegel. "The answer is no."
According to a city attorney, the NYPD's decision to bar protesters from the north side of the street was "a lawful and appropriate accommodation to the protesters' desire to exercise their First Amendment rights while at the same time assuring that safety and necessary access can be maintained at the mayor's residence."
