Glen Ellyn won't allow Jehovah's Witnesses brochure rack on sidewalk
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/glen-ellyn/ct-jehovah-witness-brochures-tl-20141209-story.html
The Glen Ellyn Village Board (USA) on Monday night voted 4-2 to reject a request by a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses north of Glen Ellyn to place a portable brochure rack on a public sidewalk in downtown Glen Ellyn for evangelistic purposes.
Glen Ellyn currently bars commercial signage and the placement of any kind of structure — whether temporary or permanent — on its public sidewalks without Village Board approval. At the same time, free speech laws make street ministry or evangelization legal.
Recently, the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses had been using the Glen Ellyn Metra station property to perform street ministry that included its portable brochure rack. The railroad subsequently revoked that permission, said Village Attorney Greg Mathews, prompting the Witnesses to approach the village.
So, the Witnesses instead proposed setting up their rack in front of The Patio Restaurant, 552 Crescent Blvd., and just south of the Illinois Prairie Path and north of Olive and Vinnie's at 449 N. Main St. The Kingdom Hall made its request, which was for two days a month for an initial term of three months, to trustees.
On Monday, several trustees said they felt a public sidewalk is the wrong place for an evangelistic cart. Trustee Tim O'Shea likened the Jehovah's Witnesses brochure rack to a sign, while Trustee Jim Burket said he simply is not a fan of the placement of items on the public sidewalk.
Trustee Pete Ladesic told his colleagues he has no issue with the hall's evangelistic efforts, but that he did not support the use of the brochure rack, suggesting that approving the hall's request would be "starting to go down (the) path" of setting a precedent. He suggested that the hall's leaders should instead search for a stretch of privately owned sidewalk in downtown Glen Ellyn for the rack, which then would be out of the village's purview.
Trustee Tim Elliott, who supported the measure, said that the hall's request provided a low-risk opportunity to evaluate the proposed use of a brochure rack.
"This is a religious organization that is doing this on a nonprofit basis and it's (for) two days a month for a period of three months," Elliott said. "My recommendation would be that I think we ought to let them go with it. If staff says this creates a firestorm of protests and issues and traffic, then we've learned our lesson, and if this applicant or others come to us in the future, we can say no."
No officials from the Kingdom Hall attended Monday night's meeting.
December 8, 2014
[EXTRACT]
Village Board of Glen Ellyn (USA)
Consider a license agreement with Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses to allow a brochure rack on the public sidewalk in downtown Glen Ellyn. (Planning and Development)
Don Jurasz, Minister of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses located at 24W410 Great Western Avenue in unincorporated Glen Ellyn, has requested permission to place a brochure rack on the public sidewalk in conjunction with a public outreach ministry activity. Members of the congregation wish to conduct street ministry and speak to members of the public on public property as an effort of the church. There are no restrictions on individuals performing street ministry, evangelization, or witnessing. These activities are protected as free speech and individuals may engage in these activities at any time. However, the church wishes to place a brochure rack on the public sidewalk during their outreach ministry efforts (see attached photo).
The placement of a structure on the public sidewalk is prohibited by the Village Code and therefore requires either a Village Board waiver or approval of a license agreement by the Village Board.
Village Board code waivers are generally intended for infrequent or one-time events. Since the church wishes to undertake these efforts over a few months, the issuance of a license agreement is a more appropriate mechanism to grant approval of the request. The church initially requested permission to conduct their activities once or twice a day on three days each week for a period of 6 months. In conversations with Village staff, the request has been scaled back to twice a month for 3 months. The church can certainly perform their ministry, without the placement of the brochure rack, as often as they wish.
The church also initially requested to perform their ministry at the southwest corner of the intersection of Park and Crescent Boulevards. The Police Department expressed a safety concern regarding the location due to the existence of many conflicting distractions at that intersection (e.g.; student crossings, commuter crossings, vehicle movements and the train tracks). Staff suggested two safer locations in the downtown that contained sufficient sidewalk width and offered less distractions to motorists and pedestrians. Those locations are in front of The Patio Restaurant at 552 Crescent Boulevard and just south of the Prairie Path and north of Olive and Vinnie’s at 449 N. Main Street. The attached map shows the proposed locations.
As requested by the church, staff has prepared a draft license agreement for Village Board consideration. The draft license agreement, attached, requires submittal of the standard Certificate of Liability Insurance in advance of the placement of the brochure rack. It also requires the typical 5-foot wide clear path and a minimum of one person accompanying the rack at all times. The church can locate the brochure rack in either one location or the other during their ministry operations. They may place the brochure rack any two days per month between 6:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. or between 3:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The agreement expires March 31, 2015. If the church wished to continue the use of the brochure rack beyond that timeframe, they would need to reappear before the Village Board for a new license agreement.
Request: That the Village Board consider the request of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses for a license agreement to allow a brochure rack on the public sidewalk in downtown Glen Ellyn.
DOWNLOAD RELATED DOCUMENTS
http://jwleaks.org/ministry/jehovahs-witnesses-application-for-trolley-cart/