The city has been hit with a lawsuit in federal court alleging that a ban on members of the public bringing signs into Common Council Chambers is a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The litigation, brought by members of a local activist coalition, seeks monetary damages and attorney fees, as well as an end to the sign ban.

The decision by Common Council President Andrea Shaut to ban signs from Council Chambers came on Aug. 2, 2021 — one day before the council was set to vote on a proposal to use federal Homeland Security grant funds to replace an armored rescue vehicle used by a joint Kingston-Town of Ulster police SWAT team. The proposal faced pushback from local activists of the Walk for Black Lives Coalition, who argued that the vehicle was a “tank” that would be used to intimidate peaceful protestors and terrorize Black communities.

At a July meeting of the council’s Finance Committee to discuss the vehicle purchase, about two dozen members and supporters of the coalition showed up in Council Chambers carrying signs opposing the vehicle purchase and cardboard effigies of victims of police violence mounted on sticks.

When the protestors returned to City Hall on Aug. 3 for the meeting of the full council, they were met outside by a contingent of city police led by KPD Chief Egidio Tinti, who informed them that they would not be allowed to enter the building unless they left the signs outside. Shaut later explained that she had imposed the sign ban after City Clerk Elisa Tinti, the chief’s wife, pointed to a section of the state’s Open Meetings Law dealing with signs mounted on sticks — which could be used as weapons — or that could block the public’s view of the proceedings. Based on her interpretation of the law, said Shaut, she was required to institute the sign ban.

The ban was still in effect on Aug. 10 when the activists returned to City Hall to protest a committee vote on a proposal to install a network of surveillance cameras to cover crime hotspots. They were again met by a police contingent and again informed that they could not enter the building with the signs.

Shaut later dropped the blanket ban on signs after consulting with city attorneys — and after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a strongly worded letter alleging that the sign ban was intended to suppress a particular point of view in violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. Instead, Shaut said, the ban would only apply to signs that could be used as weapons or signs with profanity.

Those rules were codified on Tuesday when the council adopted a new set of rules governing meetings. But New Paltz-based civil rights attorney Stephen Bergstein, who’s bringing the federal lawsuit on behalf of nine members of the Walk for Black Lives Coalition — including Ulster County Legislator Phil Erner (D-District 6) — said the apparent rescinding of the ban did not change the fact that his clients’ rights were violated.

“Even if they rescinded the sign ban, the complainants were still prohibited from expressing themselves,” said Bergstein on Wednesday. “Even if they walked it back, there is still a claim for what happened in 2021.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. Court for the Northern District of New York contends that the ban implemented in August was “overbroad” since it was not confined to signs that could obstruct the public’s view or the proceedings, or otherwise disrupt the meeting. The suit also alleges that the circumstances of the sign ban — that it was imposed immediately prior to a meeting where coalition members were expected to show up to protest the armored vehicle — represented “viewpoint discrimination.”

“This didn’t come out of the blue,” said Bergstein. “They knew everybody was coming about the tank.”

The city was served with the lawsuit on Tuesday. On Wednesday, city Corporation Counsel Barbara Graves-Pollard responded to a request for comment from Kingston Wire in a prepared statement.

“The complaint inaccurately describes what occurred last August and mischaracterizes the city’s motives,” wrote Graves-Pollard. “The city has consistently encouraged members of the public to voice their opinions; and it will continue to do so while, at the same time, taking reasonable steps to ensure that City Hall remains a safe place for everyone.”