Fullerton City Council reaffirmed their decision to ban publications on city property, save for a rack towards the back of the Fullerton Library, after Mayor Pro Tem Shana Charles requested to consider rescinding the resolution with an updated 3-2 vote. Charles was one of the four of five council members who voted to implement the ban on April 1.
An email to the City Manager from an attorney for Friends For Fullerton’s Future, a local blog starting its own newspaper, began the discussion of banning publications on city property. Council Member Ahmad Zahra was the only one opposing the ban.
“I believe this is an encroachment on our First Amendment right of free speech and opens our city to liability,” said Zahra in a public statement. “It sends the wrong message to our younger generation about the value of civic engagement and free expression.”
Charles said she initially understood that the ban was an old policy that Irvine and Newport Beach had implemented. After new evidence was brought to Charles’ attention by The Daily Titan that showed the policies in those cities were different, she brought the topic back to the council to bring light to the new information and rescind her vote.
“When I found out after it had been enacted, I looked further into Irvine and Newport Beach, which again, was mainly because The Daily Titan followed up,” said Charles. “They weren’t involved in the first discussion. They became very involved when they heard about it, and their faculty advisor kept pushing and following up.”
According to Charles, after talking to Irvine City Hall, she learned that while they have a “content-neutral” policy resolution, it is not in effect or implemented, and community newspapers were allowed to be there. On the other hand, Newport Beach has a public library material acquisition policy, not a City Hall policy.
Dozens of Fullerton residents lined up to speak during public comments on the issue, most in favor of removing the ban.
“I’d like to address what I’ve been referring to as an act of censorship. There has never been a good reason to remove these community papers,” said Linda Gardener, a long-time Fullerton resident. “Has Fullerton jumped into the tidal wave in our country of censorship, banning books and removing historical information? It feels that way.”
Council Member Jamie Valencia stated her stance on keeping the ban before the city clerk called the vote.
“Our city did not have an ordinance; anybody and everybody can publish whatever they want within our City Hall, which is a non-partisan building. We represent the whole city and everybody in between the city,” said Valencia. “It would be very bad if we were to limit this and allow everybody, because everybody could get their feelings hurt or get mad or upset. This is for city matters and non-partisan issues, so now we have an ordinance.”
Charles motioned to rescind the resolution, which failed with a 3-2 vote to keep the ordinance in place.