NYC Bar Association urges City Council to adopt clear guidelines for parade permits

NEW YORK—In a letter to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the President of the New York City Bar Association urges the City Council to define the term "parade" and to adopt clear legal guidelines for the issuance of parade permits.

Section 10–110 of the New York City Administrative Code, enacted by the City Council, requires that a permit be obtained from the Police Commissioner before a "parade" can take place "upon any street or in any public place." The term "parade" is not defined in the Code, and only limited guidance is given to the Police Commissioner to determine when permits should be granted or denied. Such unguided delegation of authority is inappropriate, especially because parades and other public gatherings are core First Amendment activities.

The resulting parade regulations, adopted by the NYPD in January, broadly define "parade" as any "recognizable group" of "50 or more pedestrians, vehicles or bicycles" that "procee[d] together upon any public street or roadway."

"...[B]ecause both the delegation of authority to the Police Department and the Police Department's implementing regulations are so broad and open ended, the police will inevitably engage in a wide degree of selective and discretionary enforcement, which has the very real potential for becoming a means for suppressing particular points of view," NYC Bar President Barry Kamins writes.

Kamins' letter comes shortly after Speaker Quinn's editorial on parade permits was published in the New York Blade on October 5th. Kamins writes that Quinn's assertions in the editorial wrongly suggest that the City Council is powerless to fix the flaws in the parade regulations promulgated by the Police Department.

The letter calls on the City Council to hold public hearings on the topic of parade regulations; to amend the Administrative Code to clearly define what a "parade" is; and to establish specific criteria for issuing permits.

A copy of Barry Kamins' letter can be found here: http://www.nycbar.org/PressRoom/0296_001.pdf

About the Association
The New York City Bar Association (www.nycbar.org) was founded in 1870, and since then has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law, and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities.