A new Seattle group plans to place an initiative on the November 19999 ballot to repeal portions of the city's "poster ban."
The ban, which was approved by the Seattle City Council a few years ago, prohibits plcing "any handbill, sign, or poster" on telephone poles and similar public objects.
The group, which has chosen the name Free Speech Seattle, includes musicians, club owners, and representatives of youth groups. Leaders of the effort say the poster ban is a violation of treasured free speech rights to leaflet and communicate with the public.The ban is also blamed for hurting the city's music and entertainment economy, which formerly used posters to build audiences for local performing artists.
Signature-Gather Process
The free-speech group has named Tim Crowley as campaign manager and Ben Livingston (no relation to this writer) as treasurer. Crowley runs a World Wide Web site named www.seattlemusicweb.com, which he says has developed Web pages for more than 40 local bands.
Almost 19,000 valid signatures must be gathered to place an initiative on the ballot. Like all Seattle initiatives, the effort must go through the following steps:
Validation of Form. The City Clerk has one week to inspect the proposed initiative for proper legal form. The City Clerk passes it on to the City Attorney, who writes a short ballot title. Ironically, City Attorney Mark Sidran was a driving force behind the poster ban, but will get to write the title of the initiative that is aimed at amending it.
Signature-Gathering. Once the form and ballot title are approved, the group has 180 calendar days to collect signatures of Seattle registered voters. As many as 25,000 total signatures may be needed to obtain 19,000 valid signatures.
Certification. When the group turns in its signatures, the City Clerk has 20 days to certify how many valid signatures the petitions contain.
Extra Time. If the signatures fall short of the number required, the group receives 20 extra days to gather more. The City Clerk then receives 20 more certification days.
Council Action. If the total is sufficient, the City Council has 45 days to adopt the initiative into law or reject it. If the Council rejects the initiative, the measure must be put on the next available ballot date.
Campaign. There must be at least 45 days between City Council action and the date the measure will be voted on.
The cumulative time for these steps, after the ballot title is written, adds up to as much as 330 days. Crowley says the group plans to submit a draft wording to the City Clerk as early as this week.This might result in petitions being circulated by approximately Feb. 20. If all steps take the maximum time, Free Speech Seattle would have only 105 days, not 180 days, to collect signatures for a 1999 election. The initiative would otherwise appear on the 2000 ballot.
The group does not plan to actually repeal the poster ban, but simply delet four words that prohit posters on any "utility pole, [or] lamp post." By leaving the rest of the poster ban intact, the initiative would retain current law against posters on trees, traffic signs, bridges, bus shelters, and other city-owned objects.
Free Speech Seattle can be reached at 801 Pine Street #2G, Seattle, WA 98101, 206-442-9404.