Mount Vernon to reconsider law restricting access, recording in City Hall
Reversing course, the Mount Vernon city council on Thursday said it would reconsider a newly enacted local law that restricts public access to City Hall, running up against the protections of the First Amendment.
In a statement on the city's Facebook page, the council said it would revisit the ordinance, which was passed last week, given "recent concerns" expressed by residents.
One of the most controversial features of the law was to ban, nearly outright, making audio or video recordings on all city-owned property, including public areas within City Hall, without the consent of everyone present.
The council's statement was posted just hours after an article from The Journal News/lohud documented how the new restrictions may run afoul of the First Amendment, which protects the right of the public to gather in public spaces. Many federal appellate courts have also extended that right to the ability to record public officials in public spaces.
Separately, New York guarantees the right to record law enforcement officials carrying out their duties, a development solidified after the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
The city council's statement insists that concerns of safety "remain due to recent incidents inside city hall," a possible reference to encounters with so-called First Amendment auditors, but concedes that changes will be made "to strike a more suitable balance between employee safety" and the First Amendment.
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The ordinance unilaterally declared the council chambers and rotunda areas within City Hall to be "nonpublic," outside a narrow set of preauthorized purposes. Traditionally, the rotunda and other areas within City Hall have been broadly accessible by members of the public.
Daniel Novack, co-chair of the New York State Bar Association's committee on media law, previously told The Journal News/lohud that "you cannot make something nonpublic just by your say-so, you can’t do it by fiat."
"Something like a rotunda is the axiomatic town square," he added. "It’s surprising to me that a city would think they could take a rotunda away."
The new restrictions also prohibit audio and video recording on all city-owned property, including these newly designated "nonpublic" areas, unless everyone appearing on the recording gives their consent.
Novack commented that lawmakers could have come up with a different way to address concerns about being recorded in public spaces, "but it can’t be a blanket ban."
Asher Stockler is a reporter for The Journal News and the USA Today Network New York. You can find him on Twitter at @quasiasher or send him an email at astockler@lohud.com. Reach him securely: asher.stockler@protonmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester city reconsidering law restricting public access to City Hall
