home > newsroom Letter to the Editor Clarifying the ACLU of Utah’s Olympic Work June 17, 2001 To the Editor: The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah would like to clarify the June 6, 2001 Salt Lake Tribune article “SLC Seeks Freer Plaza in 2002.” The ACLU met with Mayor Anderson on May 30, 2001 to discuss Salt Lake City’s plans to accommodate and protect the First Amendment rights of demonstrators who attend the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. During this meeting Mayor Anderson asked the ACLU for suggestions concerning the location of designated demonstration areas in Salt Lake City. Because we believe that the most effective way to select meaningful protest sites is through the normal city permit process, we declined to point out specific locations for such areas. However, we did offer our suggestions as to how the City can balance free speech activities with security concerns in three main areas of Salt Lake City during the Olympics: the Salt Lake Olympic Square, Pioneer Park, and outlying areas such as Main Street, 300 South, and the Gallivan Center. We sent a letter outlining our suggestions to Mayor Anderson, and it is our opinion that these suggestions as well as Mayor Anderson’s ideas for First Amendment protections during the Olympics are public information and should be conveyed to the citizens of Utah. In its coverage, the local media focused on an aside to the formal purpose of our meeting with Salt Lake City. After learning that for the duration of the games, the final light rail stop will be on South Temple between Main Street and West Temple, we expressed our concern that the thousands of Olympic spectators walking from that stop to the Olympic Square may not be aware of the change in ownership of the Main Street sidewalks once they cross South Temple. In an effort to avoid unnecessary arrests and security problems resulting from uninformed Olympic visitors passing through the plaza, the ACLU suggested that Mayor Anderson approach the LDS Church and ask them to consider loosening the restrictions on demonstration activities on the Main Street plaza during the Olympics. The ACLU does not intend to create divisiveness over this issue. Rather, we would like everyone attending the Olympics to be informed of the peculiarity of some of the rules and regulations that may be enforced in connection with free expression activities in Salt Lake City. For over three years, the ACLU of Utah has been advising Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee that plans for accommodating free expression activities during the Olympics need to be finalized. Throughout this process, our position has remained the same: the public streets and sidewalks in Salt Lake City are “traditional public forums,” where First Amendment rights receive the highest level of constitutional protection. Salt Lake City chose to invite the world to our city, and it is their responsibility to inform Olympic visitors about the rules and regulations that will be enforced on our streets and sidewalks as well as accommodating and protecting the rights of everyone attending Olympic events, including voices of dissent. Janelle P. Eurick Staff Attorney ACLU of Utah

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