Opinion ID: 2975497
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: First Amendment Claim Against City

Text: Whether we characterize the public access channel as a “public forum” (those places “which by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate,” Perry Educ. Ass’n v. Perry Local Educators’ Ass’n, 460 U.S. 37, 45 (1983)),3 or simply as an exercise of state action by the City of Akron, the $25 fee imposed by Time Warner and approved by the City is clearly content-neutral in application and represents a reasonable fee for covering the administrative costs of operating the channel. The fee applies to all tapes submitted for broadcast on the public access channel, regardless of the subject matter of the programming. Wilcher does not allege that the fee was motivated by an intent to suppress her views. The fee is not charged only on tapes that are provocative or controversial. If the fee were used to limit speech the City considers politically or socially incorrect or critical of certain governmental or private institutions or persons, we would have a different case. The mayor is not using his authority here to help his political friends or harm opponents of his administration. We see nothing close to the prohibited line in charging a modest fee for processing video tapes. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court. 3 For a comprehensive discussion of the definitional difficulties underlying the “public forum” doctrines, see Tribe, American Constitutional Law 986-1010 (2nd ed. 1988).