Redmond, WA Free Speech

Dennis Ballen, et al., v. The City of Redmond, et al.
IJ Defends Blazing Bagels from Redmond, Washington’s Portable Sign Ban

IJ client Dennis Ballen

On September 15, 2006, the Institute for Justice Washington Chapter (IJ-WA) won an important free speech victory when the 9th Cir. U.S. Court of Appeals held that a City of Redmond, Wash., ordinance banning Blazing Bagels store owner Dennis Ballen’s signs was unconstitutional. The Court held that the ordinance, which banned certain kinds of portable signs but allowed real estate signs, unconstitutionally discriminated against some signs based on their content.

The Institute for Justice’s Washington Chapter filed the challenge on Ballen’s behalf after the City cited him for having an employee wear a sandwich-board sign for a few hours each day advertising “Fresh Bagels.” The City claimed that signs like Ballen’s are ugly and hazardous, but the 9th Cir. saw through this rhetoric. “[U]biquitous real estate signs, which can turn an inviting sidewalk into an obstacle course challenging even the most dextrous hurdler, are an even greater threat to vehicular and pedestrian safety and community aesthetics than the presence of a single employee holding an innocuous sign that reads: ‘Fresh Bagels – Now Open.’ . . . The City has protected outdoor signage displayed by the powerful real estate industry from an Ordinance that unfairly restricts the First Amendment rights of, among others, a lone bagel shop owner.”

The 9th Cir. victory follows IJ Washington’s victory in trial court, which the City appealed. The case is part of the Institute’s effort to reinvigorate protections in the state and federal constitutionals for the free flow of commercial information indispensable to our free enterprise economy.