Sarasota market director calls police on activist

[graywarrior]

By CAROL E. LEE

[e-mail]

SARASOTA -- The director of the Downtown Farmers Market called police on a woman who was handing out political literature at the local mainstay Saturday morning.

Now, one city commissioner is calling for the city to rethink whether the Downtown Partnership should be running the market. And the city attorney will clarify the rules on distributing political material -- it is permitted -- at a meeting today with the police chief and other city staff.

"There had been some misperceptions," said City Attorney Bob Fournier.

Laurel Park resident Kate Lowman was walking around the market about 9 a.m. wearing a red "Election Reform" T-shirt and distributing literature in support of some City Charter amendments on the November ballot.

She asked a woman if she was a city voter and wanted a flier. The woman turned out to be Leann Aldridge, the market's manager for the partnership.

Aldridge told Lowman she could not distribute political material in the market, which stretches along Lemon Avenue near Main Street on Saturday mornings from 7 a.m. to noon.

"I responded that freedom of speech guaranteed my ability to do this, and she said she would call the police," Lowman wrote in an e-mail to city commissioners and the city attorney.

Two police officers arrived shortly after and held Lowman at the southeast corner of Main Street and Lemon Avenue for 45 minutes and, along with Aldridge, "attempted to convince me that I did not have the right to be handing out political literature in the market," Lowman wrote.

"Ms. Aldridge said that her lease with the City made the leased area private during the hours of the lease."

A police report of Saturday's incident was unavailable Monday.

Police Chief Peter Abbott said officers held Lowman for 45 minutes because it took time for them to figure out if freedom of speech laws applied in her case, or if Aldridge was right. But once they realized Lowman "had every right to be there," they let her go, Abbott said.

"When somebody gives you one side, you want to make sure you're doing everything correctly," he said, adding that he will "reiterate" free speech guidelines to his officers. "This is not the first time something like this has come up."

The Downtown Partnership's city permit to run the market says no political organizations or parties can have booths at the market. But passing out literature is permitted, as it is on any city right of way, Fournier said.

"They thought the permit meant that they had the right to the street," said Jude Levy, who witnessed the incident and was handing out the same literature and wearing the same T-shirt as Lowman.

Aldridge and Lowman could not be reached Monday evening for comment.

The farmers market is a known hub for political campaigning during election season, with pitches for politicians from City Commission candidates to congressional hopefuls.

It has seen its share of tumult over the past year. The former manager was fired, and some vendors recently said they were unhappy with the new management.

"Because of some of the issues we've had, I would certainly like to see us open this up for bids that might be more suitable," Commissioner Dick Clapp said during a meeting Monday.

Lowman told the city that the police and Aldridge left her alone, but not before implying that she was not in the right.

"I was told that both officers felt that I should be arrested, but that they would not arrest me because they had been unable to obtain authorization to do so," Lowman wrote.

"Both of them felt I should not return to the market to hand out literature, but that they would not take any action if I chose to do so."

Levy agreed.

"I stood there until the police couldn't get any authority to arrest her, and so they let her go," she said. "They asked her not to proceed in giving out any other material."

Lowman and Levy continued to hand out the literature.

(link)
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071002/NEWS/710020346/-1/xml&display=Sarasotaopenairmarketdirectorcallsthepoliceonactivist

[Ian David]

1. All he has to do is sell tomatoes with the shirts. Everyone wins, everyone's happy. Geesh! n/t