Opinion ID: 776902
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Of Alternative Channels of Communication

Text: 45 The requirement for alternative channels of communication is easily fulfilled in this case. In addition to the many other public areas in New York City where amplified sound is permitted, there is City Hall Park, adjacent to and south of the plaza. Housing Works itself has held events with sound amplification in the park but seeks the higher profile of sound-amplified activities in the plaza. That Housing Works considers no other City location as beneficial for its purposes as City Hall Plaza does not negate the fact that significant alternate channels are open for the messages it wishes to convey. 46 The City policy restrictions at issue impose only a minimal inhibition on the ability of [Housing Works] to communicate its ideas in light of the many alternative channels available. Concerned Jewish Youth v. McGuire, 621 F.2d 471, 476 (2d Cir.1980). In Concerned Jewish Youth, a group was prohibited from conducting demonstrations in front of the Russian Mission to the United Nations. However, twelve persons were allowed to demonstrate in a bull pen diagonally across the street from the Mission. Id. at 472. Overflow areas were permitted in an avenue and in a street nearby. In holding that adequate channels of communication were provided, we said: We do not think that the First Amendment guarantees news publicity for speakers, nor does it guarantee the continued fervor of one's fellow demonstrators. Id. at 474. 47 Even the desire of Housing Works for a high-profile location for its public activities is easily satisfied here. Housing Works has never been prohibited from conveying its message in City Hall Plaza. Only the level of noise it might use there is restricted through the ban on amplification equipment. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine a more desirable alternative site for an amplification-aided event than City Hall Park, which is situated right next to City Hall Plaza. We hold that the City's ban on sound amplification in the plaza leaves open very adequate alternative channels for communication of the information Housing Works seeks to disseminate. See Clark v. Cmty. for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U.S. 288, 293, 104 S.Ct. 3065, 82 L.Ed.2d 221 (1984).