FYI
From: Isabelle Lopez [mailto:ilopez@citystaug.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 1:16 PM
To: andy <awitt@historiccoastculture.com>
Subject: RE: Rainbow flag at your City Hall?
There is no written policy. It is federal case law.
The City was sued for its prior policy on placing only certain flags on the bridge of Lions, and the city lost. The city complied with the federal court order that stated that since we had created a public forum, we could not discriminate based on content (type) of flag. The City then discontinued the flag program and the FDOT demolished the old bridge. The new FDOT bridge was built without flagpoles. The bridge belongs to the FDOT, please direct inquiries to FDOT regarding flying flags on their bridge.
The city has consistently refused to place other groups’ flags on any of its flagpoles, to maintain its ability to control its own speech, and not open up a public forum wherein the city would be prohibited from allowing some flags, and disallowing others.
From: andy [mailto:awitt@historiccoastculture.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 12:39 PM
To: Isabelle Lopez <ilopez@citystaug.com>
Subject: FW: Rainbow flag at your City Hall?
Can you help with a copy of the SA policy
Thanks
andy
From: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com [mailto:public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Beth Tobey
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 12:18 PM
To: 'public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com' <public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com>
Subject: RE: Rainbow flag at your City Hall?
If you can send me the policy on “government speech” I’d much appreciate it.
Beth
From: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com [mailto:public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Heim, Joshua
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:12 AM
To: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com
Subject: RE: Rainbow flag at your City Hall?
Hello Friends,
We at Bellevue successfully navigated this.
As a city manager form of government, our path was not as straight forward and ultimately took two years to resolve. If you’re an elected mayor form of government, then it could be as simple as appealing to her or him.
The biggest hurdle you’ll likely encounter is developing a city-wide policy around political speech in public places. I originally requested to fly the flag in solidarity with Orlando back in 2016 and quickly learned that we (as staff) were prohibited from engaging in political speech. And, we didn’t have an existing policy to accommodate the request.
That then turned to two years of intense community building both internally and externally with city leadership and partners and organizations who ultimately made the request to our City Council. I worked closely with our City Attorney’s office and facilities group who took the lead in drafting a policy, while me and others did events, workshops, and trainings for staff to build awareness of issues surrounding gay pride and government. The upside is that all the activity led to our first LGBTQ Employee Resource Group (EGR).
After that, its dealing with the flag pole. It turns out there’s a lot of regulation and dos and don’ts. I’d get your facilities, fire and police departments on board sooner rather than later.
If you’d like the play-by-play I’m happy to share our approach.
Best wishes,
Joshua Heim
Arts Program Manager, City of Bellevue
WORK 425.452.4105 │ FAX 425.452.5247
From: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com <public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com> On Behalf Of andy
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2019 7:52 AM
To: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com
Subject: RE: Rainbow flag at your City Hall?
St Augustine had a similar situation with flags and ran into a 1st Amendment issue where other groups then wanted to put the confederate flag and subsequently other not so politically correct flags were being discussed.
Better check with your city attorney about the exposure and precedents.
Andy Witt
From: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com [mailto:public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Beth Tobey
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2019 2:57 PM
To: Listserve (public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com) <public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com>
Subject: Rainbow flag at your City Hall?
Public art friends, The Santa Cruz Arts Commission and I want to put up a rainbow flag at City Hall and I’m wondering if any of the rest of you have experience with a policy around that. One concern that came up is maybe not having it next to the US flag since we raise and lower that flag at times and putting it somewhere else on the building.
Thanks,
Beth Tobey
Arts Program Manager
City of Santa Cruz Economic Development Office
(831) 420-5154 | btobey@cityofsantacruz.com
www.SantaCruzCityArts.com
WWW.CruzCal.org
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