Winter Park, Florida, goes totalitarian

By Rob Janicki
Welcome to Winter Park, Florida, home to Southern living and totalitarian central operations.

From the Freedom Outpost:
[...] Winter Park, Florida’s City Commission gave a preliminary approval to make an “emergency public safety ordinance” permanent. It would effectively shut down most if not all protests within fifty feet of any home and no ability to protest in a residential area. This is the First Amendment under attack. [...]

Apparently only liberal progressive speech is protected with #Occupiers, anarchists, socialists, communists, etc., the only ones with rights to conduct public protests wherever and whenever they choose.

[...] The ban comes after pro-life protestors picketed the home of a notable resident on August 18. Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando CEO Jenna Tosh said, “I literally had to push through these folks who were carrying massive protest signs and signs that said, ‘Jenna Tosh kills babies and hurts women.’ [...]

Remember when #Occupiers were protesting Wall Street CEO types actually setting foot on their private property to intimidate and place them and their families in fear?  Where were the police to enforce criminal trespass laws?  In a 4 to 1 vote, only the mayor had the brains to step back and even think of the 1st Amendment rights of the protesters and even then he was a squish.

[...] It’s quite amazing actually that many of these commissioners claim that “personal safety trumps free speech.” This is especially curious since no one was threatened or harmed in any way. While people do not have a right to protest on private property, to say they cannot protest on public sidewalks or within a certain distance of a house is government stepping over its bounds. [...]

Winter Park may well be looking at an expensive proposition to defend this ordinance, should it be enacted into law later this month.  In addition, a restraining order will probably be sought and received by opponents of this attack on the 1st Amendment until such time as all the issues in this law have been fully litigated.

This is not a slam dunk for those who claim this law is unconstitutional.  A court may well find that such a law can be finely crafted to overcome constitutional challenges, while functionally making free speech a lot less free.