Opponents of an early-1990s Seattle law banning the posting of flyers on utility poles are planning a direct attack--a citywide initiative. Calling itself Free Speech Seattle, a group of city residents plans to file a ballot challenge to the poster ban. Initiative backers would have to gather 17,000 valid voter signatures in 180 days to qualify for the ballot.
"We feel that the [poster] ban has had a detrimental effect on our city's culture, on its political activity, and certainly among the music and artistic communities," says Free Speech Seattle spokesman Tim Crowley. Crowley, who runs the Seattle Music Web Internet site, says his group plans to link its signature-gathering efforts with a voter registration campaign.