MILWAUKEE – Ahead of a full meeting of the Milwaukee Common Council Tuesday, the Milwaukee Public Works Committee has recommended for approval an ordinance establishing regulations and registration-issuance procedures for the use of city streets and public property during the Republican National Convention in the city this July.
The lead sponsor of the ordinance, chair of the Public Works Committee Alderman Robert Bauman, said the file will be taken up by the full council Tuesday.
“I value the voices of community members who brought their concerns to the table today and testified during the special Public Works Committee meeting, and it is our goal to ensure protection of the rights of individuals and groups to protest, even as there is understandably tight security in the security zone from July 15th to July 18th during the Republican National Convention,” said Bauman. “The regulations and requirements will be in place to ensure that individuals and groups can express their voices in a peaceful and orderly way”.
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The ordinance notes that “persons and groups have a First Amendment right to organize and participate in peaceful assemblies and parades on sidewalks and rights-of-way and in the parks within the city, and to engage in peaceful assemblies and parades near the Convention so they may be seen and heard, subject to reasonable, content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions designed to protect public safety, persons, and property.”
Several activists attended the committee meeting Monday morning, expressing a desire for clarity on where, and when, people will be allowed to protest.
“Our demands have been extremely clear: we want to be within sight and sound of where they’re going to be hosting the convention, not the security perimeter, which is what was talked about before,” said Omar Flores from Coalition to March on the Republican National Convention 2024. “The county park that they plan on using is about a quarter mile away from where they’ll be hosting the convention, so this does not meet within sight and sound”.
In response to Flores’s claims that the process was being rushed along, Bauman said there was an urgency to get some sort of framework in place “if for no other reason so that there’s adequate time for it to be challenged.” Bauman also noted that while at face value the desire to have local voices receive priority for demonstration registration is a good idea, the process is likely not legally sound.
Based on feedback in closed session Monday, the ordinance was recommended for passage on a 4-1 vote, with Alderman Jonathan Brostoff the lone objection.
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