Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial asks City Council to bring public forums back to the Government channel

Signs, signs, everywhere . . .

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Northwest Edition

Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/237463/

Score one for the city council in Fayetteville, which went along with free speech the other day. The council repealed the old Two Signs Only rule. Until the city council made the change, anybody who wanted to put up a political sign in a yard was limited to one small and one large one. Say what ? In politically active Fayetteville ? Only two signs ? Yep. Even if yard signs are about the purest expressions of political speech going. Because until now, Fayetteville had chosen to limit clutter at the expense of free speech. Not a good order of priorities in a free country.

Itʼs America, folks. And itʼs election season. As long as the signs donʼt block the view of oncoming traffic or become hazards in some other way, let ʼer rip. Sure, somebody, in some neighborhood, is going to overdo it, and itʼll be an offense against good taste. But not against democracy. And it shouldnʼt be an offense against the law.

After all, the signs will come down once the elections are over. Thatʼs required, too.

Now can the city council do something about letting public forums back on the Government Channel ? The speech there hasnʼt been all that free for months now.