Free Speech
As a central and busy part of Baltimore, the Inner Harbor has been the site of much political and artistic activity. The city is involved in ongoing disputes over free speech in the area. One early conflict concerned marchers for gay rights, whose permit was revoked by the city. (The city announced that only five or fewer people could march, and that they could not carry signs.)
The Rouse Company, which began operating Harborplace in 1980, has long been in conflict with street performers. The company regulates performances, and has often been accused of suppressing free speech. These disputes came to a head in 2002–2003, when two events triggered a lawsuit against the city.
Read more about this topic: Inner Harbor
Famous quotes containing the words free speech, free and/or speech:
“Punk to me was a form of free speech. It was a moment when suddenly all kinds of strange voices that no reasonable person could ever have expected to hear in public were being heard all over the place.”
—Greil Marcus (b. 1945)
“Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“If we would enjoy the most intimate society with that in each of us which is without, or above, being spoken to, we must not only be silent, but commonly so far apart bodily that we cannot possibly hear each other’s voice in any case. Referred to this standard, speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)