Opinion ID: 787711
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sidewalk

Text: 11 The Gateway Sidewalk encircles the Complex, and looks and feels like a typical public sidewalk. Because the Supreme Court has explained that from [t]ime out of mind public streets and sidewalks have been used for public assembly and debate, the hallmarks of a traditional public forum, Frisby v. Schultz, 487 U.S. 474, 480, 108 S.Ct. 2495, 101 L.Ed.2d 420 (1988), UCC argues that the Gateway Sidewalk is a traditional public forum, a place in which the right to limit protected expressive activity is sharply circumscribed. Chabad of S. Ohio v. City of Cincinnati, 363 F.3d 427, 434 (6th Cir.2004) (internal quotations omitted). 12 There are two key reasons why UCC is correct. First, the Gateway Sidewalk blends into the urban grid, borders the road, and looks just like any public sidewalk. Indeed, a public sidewalk — which runs parallel to the Gateway Sidewalk — circumscribes the Complex and borders the municipal streets. Further, the public and Gateway sidewalks are made of the same materials and share the same design. In United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 180, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 75 L.Ed.2d 736 (1983), the Supreme Court held that a sidewalk bordering the Supreme Court constituted a public forum because [t]here is no separation, no fence, and no indication whatever to persons stepping from the street to the curb and sidewalks that serve as the perimeter of the Court grounds that they have entered some special type of enclave. See also Venetian Casino Resort v. Local Joint Executive Bd. of Las Vegas, 257 F.3d 937, 947 (9th Cir.2001) (applying First Amendment to privately owned sidewalk that is connected to and virtually indistinguishable from the public sidewalks to its north and south); Henderson v. Lujan, 964 F.2d 1179, 1182 (D.C.Cir.1992) (The two sidewalks here appear to be classic instances. They are physically indistinguishable from ordinary sidewalks used for the full gamut of urban walking.). Moreover, although in some areas the Gateway Sidewalk's border is roughly delineated by fifteen-foot-long planter boxes containing trees, this fact does not alter our conclusion. As the district court rationally determined, the average observer would be unfamiliar with the geographic significance of this sporadic vegetation. 13 Second, like its publicly owned counterparts, the Gateway Sidewalk also is a public thoroughfare. By design, the Gateway Sidewalk contributes to the City's downtown transportation grid and is open to the public for general pedestrian passage. Indeed, rather than leading to the rest of the Complex, the Gateway Sidewalk encircles it as a through route. Although Gateway contends that the majority of the Gateway Sidewalk's pedestrians are traveling to and from Indians and Cavaliers games, [t]he mere fact that a sidewalk abuts property dedicated to purposes other than free speech is not enough to strip it of public forum status. Henderson, 964 F.2d at 1182. 14 Of course, not all sidewalks are public fora. See, e.g., United States v. Kokinda, 497 U.S. 720, 110 S.Ct. 3115, 111 L.Ed.2d 571 (1990) (postal service sidewalk separated from main highway sidewalk and could be used only to enter the post office); Greer v. Spock, 424 U.S. 828, 96 S.Ct. 1211, 47 L.Ed.2d 505 (1976) (sidewalks located in an enclosed military base and separated from the streets and sidewalks of the city itself); Chicago Acorn v. Metro. Pier and Exposition Auth., 150 F.3d 695, 702 (7th Cir.1998) (Rather than being part of the city's automotive, pedestrian, or bicyclists' transportation grid, the sidewalks on the pier and the service street on its north side are internal to the pier, like the sidewalks, streets, and parking lots in Disney World[.]). Whether a given sidewalk is considered a public forum, of course, hinges on a case-by-case inquiry in which no single factor is dispositive. The Gateway Sidewalk differs from those sidewalks that have not been held to be public fora because it is fully integrated into the downtown and indistinguishable from its adjoining publicly owned sidewalk both physically and in its intended use.