Van Allsburg v. City of Kansas City

600 F. Supp. 1226, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21070
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedDecember 20, 1984
DocketNo. 82-0675-CV-W-3
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 600 F. Supp. 1226 (Van Allsburg v. City of Kansas City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Allsburg v. City of Kansas City, 600 F. Supp. 1226, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21070 (W.D. Mo. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

ELMO B. HUNTER, District Judge.

Before the Court are cross motions for summary judgment. The parties are in agreement that there remain no undisputed facts and have submitted the case to be decided on stipulated facts.

This is an action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Plaintiffs are adult members of the Reproductive Rights Committee of the Kansas City Urban Chapter of the National, Organization for Women, a noncommercial political group. Defendants are the City of Kansas City and the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.

Plaintiffs claim that certain policies of defendants unconstitutionally prohibit the free exercise of the freedom of speech in parks within the parks and boulevard system of the City. These include restrictions on signs or other advertising, selling certain items associated with protected speech activity, and soliciting funds.

In addition to declaratory and injunctive relief plaintiffs seek damages based on the deprivation of their constitutional rights resulting from the enforcement of the challenged policies.

On June 13, 1982, City of Kansas City, Missouri, park rangers, acting in their official capacity, and in furtherance of policy, required plaintiffs to leave Loose Park because of plaintiffs’ activities conducting a [1228]*1228bike-a-thon. Loose Park is a public park of the City of Kansas City.

The following stipulation of facts was submitted by the parties:

Prior to March 8, 1977, the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners’ published policy was to exclude religious and political uses of parks. Following litigation, which was resolved through settlement, the Board officially deleted that exclusion. The litigation, which was filed in the Western District of Missouri, was Taxpayers Defense League v. City of Kansas City, Missouri, et al., Case No. 76-CV-674-W-4.

Prior to March 8, 1977, the Board policy concerning religious and political uses of the parks read as follows:

“Parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities shall be used for park and recreation purposes. They cannot be used for religious or political purposes, nor for the solicitation of funds for any purpose other than Parks and Recreation.”

The change in official Board policy, however, was not effectively communicated to all responsible city officials and employees who are charged with enforcing the Board’s policies and City ordinances. Inadequate training of park rangers resulted from the dissemination of incorrect information concerning the Board’s change in official policy.

After the March 8, 1977, deletion of an official policy against religious and political uses of the parks, no changes were made in the materials distributed to rangers until January, 1983, so the rangers continued to receive the old policies which prohibited political and religious uses.

The change in policy was reiterated by the Board in June, 1981, when an organization sought permission to use Loose Park for a political rally. The Board discouraged use of Loose Park because of its heavy use.

Unchanged by the litigation of 1977, and the policy change of March, 1977, was the policy to enforce the ordinances of the City as they were written.

Official Board policy was to not prohibit religious and political uses of the parks so long as all City ordinances were obeyed. Those ordinances included a prohibition on displaying any sign, including political signs, on public property; a prohibition on selling any article, whether or not the item, such as a button, bumper sticker, or T-shirt, had political content, unless the Board granted a concession contract, but the Board granted contracts only for recreational items; and a prohibition which has been interpreted by staff and officials to include signs, literature, promotion of anything including political issues unless done verbally only, and any other activities taken as a whole which promote anything.

Wearing T-shirts which display a political message such as “Abortion — A Personal Decision” and conducting a bike-a-thon with riders also wearing such T-shirts or signs was considered on June 13, 1982, to be a promotional advertising of the group and its message. Promotion within this prohibition was also considered to include distributing literature or seeking donations.

Rangers, with regard to political groups and activities, were told the following:

(a) Political groups may use the parks, but it is preferred that political activity not occur in the parks;
(b) Use of the parks to promote a political group or idea is allowed, but not preferred;
(c) Signs of any sort, political or otherwise, whether affixed to objects or persons, or hand held, or otherwise are not allowed in the parks;
(d) Sales of any object, whether commercial sales, or sale of an item with political content and message, with the idea of promoting the message are forbidden without a concession contract with the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners; such contracts are let only for recreational activities and items;
(e) Campaigning for a politician is forbidden if signs or literature are involved in the campaign activity, but not if only talking to individuals is involved;
[1229]*1229(f) If a group asked to use the park for a nuclear freeze rally, for example, they would be told the City preferred they not do that in the parks; if the rally was conducted with signs, literature, or sales, the group would have been asked to cease the use of those items or leave the park;
(g) No literature may be handed out in parks;
(h) In certain parks, shelter houses may be reserved; if a political group informs the City it wishes to use the shelter for a political rally it is informed the City prefers it not use the parks for that purpose; if signs, literature or sales were involved in the rally the group would be asked to cease the activities or leave.
(i) Reservations for the use of the parks by a political group would not be made because permits are not issued for the open areas of the parks; groups may notify the Park Department that a large number of people will be in an area of the parks; groups calling to inform the Park Department of their desire to also use that area would be told of the first group’s plans.

Training of the park rangers did not include differentiating between political and commercial uses of the parks. The failure of that training resulted in applications of the policies and ordinances applicable to the parks to be violative of protected activities.

Training of rangers is primarily on-the-job training with other park rangers. There exists no training manual. Review of the materials distributed to rangers (which included the incorrect statement on religious and political activities) setting forth Board policies, associating with other rangers, and asking questions of the Superintendent of Parks Management are the primary means of imparting information to rangers. Direct responsibility for training park rangers rests with the Superintendent of Parks Management as their immediate supervisor.

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Related

Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial v. Kennedy
899 F. Supp. 680 (District of Columbia, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
600 F. Supp. 1226, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21070, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-allsburg-v-city-of-kansas-city-mowd-1984.