NYC parks' fee system struck down

By The Associated Press

08.16.02

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NEW YORK — A federal judge ruled yesterday that the city's policy of charging thousands of dollars for certain groups to stage events in public parks violates the First Amendment.

The suit was filed in federal court in Manhattan by the nonprofit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. It sought to challenge a fee system adopted in 2001 that codified the already-in-place practice of charging higher fees to advocacy groups that held events with commercial sponsorships.

The Parks Department had charged Transportation Alternatives fees of $5,500 and $6,000 in 1999 and 2000 for the group's annual bike ride fund-raiser, which begins and ends in Central Park. Prior to those years, the group had been charged $25.

The city argued that the use of commercial sponsors made it permissible to charge higher fees for the event and others like it.

But U.S. District Judge Shirah Scheindlin issued a 54-page decision ordering the city to pay back the money "because the city cannot point to any particular fees that were assessed against Transportation Alternatives for legitimate reasons."

New York Civil Liberties Union lawyer Christopher Dunn, who had argued on behalf of Transportation Alternatives, said the city should now return tens of thousands of dollars charged to other organizations who paid similar fees both before and after the regulations went into effect.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Dana Biberman said the city would appeal the decision because the loss of such revenue "could have serious ramifications on the city's ability to preserve its parks, particularly given the current fiscal crisis."