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Amid Increased Protests, Athens City Council Talks Amended Parade Permit
By: Susan Tebben
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The Athens City Council discussed new changes they plan to make to city policies surrounding permits required for protests, demonstrations and parades.
At Monday night’s meeting of the Athens City Council Planning and Development Committee, the topic of “parade permits,” which also includes permits used for demonstrations and protests, was raised by Councilmember Chris Fahl.
The city is charged with protecting the welfare of citizens,” Fahl said. “I would suggest that welfare also means the ability to fulfill the constitutional rights that we have, and one of those constitutional rights is to gather and assemble freely with our citizen neighbors to petition the government.”
Fahl brought up the current city ordinance regarding parade permits because of a recent uptick in protests. The biggest one so far this year was a gathering in early February at the Athens County Courthouse to protest an executive order by President Donald Trump, which temporarily halted the immigration process and travel visas for individuals from seven Muslim-majority countries.
The protest then led to a student demonstration at Ohio University’s Baker Center where 70 students were arrested by OUPD for alleged criminal trespassing.
“I think it’s important to recognize that things may move a lot quicker than we ever thought before at a national level,” Fahl said. “We have seen that over the last 25 days, and I don’t think that’s necessarily going to go away.”
After a review of the current ordinance, Fahl and other city officials put together a proposal to change the timeline to apply for a permit, which currently needs to be done three weeks in advance. Fahl also proposed that the $25 fee for permits be removed.
Originally, Fahl said she had discussed with Mayor Steve Patterson a plan to reduce the application deadline to a mere 24 hours before an event, but Patterson discussed the plan with Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle, and decided seven days was more appropriate.
Patterson offered that a clause be included in the proposed ordinance amendment that would allow Pyle to accept permits in fewer than seven days at his discretion.
“Seven days gives time for (Pyle) to decide if he needs to bring extra (officers) in, he has to think about overtime and whatnot,” Patterson told the council.
Pyle said in his six years as police chief he has never denied a permit, even when organizations have given short notice.
“We’re very flexible with these things,” Pyle said. “I want people to have the ability to parade or to march, if they so desire, legally on city streets.”
City councilman Pat McGee commended the police for reaching out to those needing permits, but said a larger police presence was needed at protests, particularly at the courthouse.
“I would emphasize when the crowd gets large…it’s important to have a sufficient number of officers there to try to keep the march going in the right direction,” McGee said.
Fahl encouraged the public to attend meetings of the Joint Police Advisory Council to discuss issues with police, city residents and Ohio University officials.
“That’s an opportunity for people to come forward, bring ideas, talk about issues and those sort of things so that we can, as a community, be able to fulfill our duty..,” Fahl said.