- Provo Police recently
kicked concerned citizens
off the sidewalk here where
they were gathering signatures.
- Don't tase me bro, don't tase me.
- The City is planning
a new transit project
and has been at odds with
citizens who oppose the project.
When those citizens began
collecting signatures here,
on the sidewalk out in front
of the Provo Recreation Center,
this patch of cement, which was
built on top of a city park,
was declared by city officials
to not be a public forum.
- This is City property, yes.
- The new Provo Recreation Center is more
than a government fitness center.
It's a community center
and a gathering place.
The Parks and Recreation Director
even said at the opening ceremony,
- “A beautiful, family-oriented recreation hub
that'll be a community gathering place
and a focal point within this community
for decades and generations to come.”
- The recreation center
doubles as a community center
where a variety of public meetings,
including the ones promoting
the City's transit plans
have been held.
While local government can regulate
the time, place, and manner of speech
under First Amendment law,
it cannot target certain
speech because of content.
Targeting citizens who disagree
with the City seems suspect.
Given the community nature of this space
and its history as a park,
it seems unreasonable for
the City to declare it closed
as a traditional public forum for speech,
particularly when the center often hosts
public meetings that
facilitate free speech.
- [Voiceover] So I can't
be on the courtyard?
- They don't want you here.
It's not my choice.
They're the management
and they run the facility.
- [Voiceover] I know.
- Apparently at this 39 million dollar
government recreation center
you can exercise everything
except your First Amendment
rights to free speech.
Either leave fitness centers
to the private market
to be built on private property,
or let the public exercise
fundamental freedoms
on taxpayer-funded public property.
Provo, you can't have it both ways.
For the Libertas Institute,
I'm Nichelle Aiden.
