The Sandy Springs City Council voted to approve three First Amendment-related ordinances on Tuesday restricting ways residents and visitors can interact.
The city ordinances took effect after each was approved at the meeting.
It is now a misdemeanor to solicit at residences between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. It is also a crime to block the entrance to a property or to remain within 8 feet of someone who objects.
During discussion between city officials, proponents of the ordinances referenced “time, place and manner” restrictions on speech. While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, governments can impose reasonable “time, place and manner” restrictions that are content-neutral.
The ordinances were sparked, in part, by incidents over the past few years in which antisemitic flyers were distributed onto residential driveways under the cover of night.
In advance of the meeting, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia wrote a letter to the Sandy Springs City Council urging officials to vote against the ordinances.
“We share your dismay at the distribution of antisemitic propaganda across the City of Sandy Springs and Metro Atlanta more broadly,” the letter says. “We write to express our deep concerns that, despite their good intentions, the Ordinances would violate speakers’ right to free speech.”
The ACLU’s letter references three U.S. Supreme Court cases, including Hill v. Colorado (2000), McCullen v. Coakley (2014) and Snyder v. Phelps (2011), to argue that the city’s buffer zone ordinance’s expansive prohibitions burden speech more than is necessary to quell antisemitism.
First Amendment implications
While no one from the public spoke in support of the new laws, a couple of residents voiced concerns against them, citing their effect on the exercise of First Amendment rights.
Sandy Springs resident Mike Petchenik, CEO of a media consulting company and former WSB-TV reporter, spoke against the first ordinance banning overnight door-to-door solicitation and canvassing between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.
“Back in 2023, a neo-Nazi group littered my neighborhood’s lawns, including my own, with hate-filled leaflets seeking to sow fear in the Jewish community, of which I am a part,” he said. “As a proponent of free speech, I urge you to proceed with caution and not throw the baby out with the bath water.”
Petchenik emphasized that hate has no place in the community and asked elected officials to make an exception for free deliveries of the Sandy Springs Crier newspaper to residences.
City Attorney Dan Lee said the ordinance would limit solicitations and the delivery of “uncontracted for literature,” including the Crier.
“We believe that it meets the freedom of the press/freedom of speech issues that have been discussed,” Lee said.
Lee told council members that it is already a crime to drop off something or enter onto the property if there is a visible sign barring solicitation and canvassing at the entrance of the home or neighborhood.
City Councilwoman Melody Kelley then asked why the new ordinance was necessary.
“To bring clarity and make it well known that it is contrary to the laws of Sandy Springs,” Lee answered.
The ordinance passed 5-1, with Councilwoman Jody Reichel dissenting.
“I have some concerns about this ordinance, that it violates First Amendment protections,” Reichel said. “I don’t want to get into another lawsuit.”
Reichel also asked Lee what would happen if a newspaper was delivered at 6:50 a.m., during the restricted time window.
“The police will come and handle whatever needs to be handled just like every other ordinance,” Lee said.
Elected officials approved the second ordinance unanimously 6-0 following a short discussion. It prohibits individuals from blocking the entrance to private and public property. City officials, including Lee, Paul and Police Chief Kenneth DeSimone, said the police department has experienced the problem at hospitals and consulates.
City Councilman Andy Bauman voted in favor of the second ordinance, he said, because of assurances that it’s constitutional and in the state law.
“I think we can all be really candid about what’s going on here; we’re sending a message, it’s prophylactic,” Bauman said. “Let’s keep our eye on the ball, we’ve got bigger fish to fry in Sandy Springs.”
Protest discussion draws pushback
The third ordinance establishes an 8-foot buffer between an individual who is “passing a leaflet or handbill to, displaying a sign to or engaging in oral protest, education, counseling or harassment with such other person.”
Under the new law, people must obtain consent from others before engaging with them. If they object, and you encroach withing 8 feet from them, you face a disorderly conduct charge. The restriction is not limited to specific areas and applies across the city.
Police Chief DeSimone said the personal encroachment ordinance would assist public safety in Sandy Springs. He cited a case recently where two individuals silently walked across the City Green during the Oct. 10, 2023 “Stand in Solidarity with Israel” vigil wearing “Arab headdresses with two Palestinian flags that walked into the crowd.”
“My guys had to grab them pretty quick and get them out of there; this ordinance will help us do that because they walked through there for only one reason, to intimidate,” DeSimone said.
Councilwoman Reichel asked DeSimone if that meant his department, “would arrest someone just for walking through a group of people?”
“Yes,” the police chief answered. “If they were walking with a Nazi flag, under this ordinance we would arrest them. Palestinian flag, we would arrest them. Because they are doing it for only one reason and that is to intimidate the Jewish community.”
Councilwomen Reichel and Kelley pushed back on his comments about the ordinance and Palestinian people. To view the clip or the whole meeting, click here.
At one point DeSimone asked Reichel, who is Jewish, if she would consider it harassment for someone to walk by her with a Palestinian flag at a pro-Jewish event.
“I don’t think that would be harassing me. I mean, if they came up to me and started getting in my face or started pushing me, or started to physically touch me, that is harassing, yes,” she said. “But I do believe in the First Amendment and I believe in freedom of speech.”
The police chief addressed the council and public speakers who had raised concerns about the First Amendment implications, saying the ordinance is necessary to keep Sandy Springs safe.
“You can’t be like the reporter who says ‘I’m for free speech, but this is intimidating so I’m going to call the police,”’ he said.
For the second time in the meeting, DeSimone was referencing Petchenik’s earlier comments at the podium.
Petchenik had called 9-11 when antisemitic flyers showed up on his lawn.
“It’s on us [the Sandy Springs Police Department] to prevent chaos, and if you don’t help us out, chaos will ensue,” DeSimone said. “You’ve got to help us out.”
It was also noted that earlier on the day of the meeting, the city uploaded a new agenda packet that expanded the application of the third ordinance. Earlier versions of the law limited the applicability of the 8-foot buffer to those within 50 feet of a school, place of worship or any public right-of-way.
After Kelley raised concerns about the public right-of-ways application, the city removed the entire clause and extended the restriction to everywhere in the city. That was the version under consideration at the meeting.
“I respect the spirit in which these are brought; I’m not going to be able to support this language today,” Kelley said. “I’m all for considering the protection of schools, places of worship and first responders, so when we have language that’s specific to that stuff … I’m open to that conversation.”
The ordinances were crafted by the Anti-Defamation League to address what it says is a surge in extremism and antisemitic incidents across the country and to protect public safety.
During the meeting, officials asked the ADL to speak on some of their concerns about the laws’ balance of First Amendment protections and limiting harassment.
“… I do fear that we are entering territory here that maybe is not the best place for a city council to be breaking ground,” City Councilman Andy Bauman said.
“It is your job as a legislative body to determine what is appropriate for Sandy Springs,” ADL Southeast Regional Director Eytan Davidson said. “This is a difficult decision; these are tough calls, but that’s why you guys are elected officials.”
Davidson said Sandy Springs is forging new ground.
“I do think that this will stand up to constitutional scrutiny,” he said. “I think you will be on the right side not only of the law, but of history, by taking this step.”
City Attorney Lee said the buffer ordinance only prohibits interactions with other individuals if they do not consent.
“If it’s deemed harassment and somebody doesn’t want it, that person has a right not to be accosted, not be solicited,” Lee said. “This ordinance says you can’t do it within 8 feet of someone who doesn’t want it.”
Sandy Springs resident Bill Grifith, who spoke against the first and third ordinance, said the 8-foot buffer would prevent him from approaching Lee with a question about his interpretation of the law.
The city attorney responded.
“If he came and I told him I didn’t want to talk to him and he stayed, he would be in violation of it,” Lee said. “There’s a difference, that’s the purpose of this ordinance … if one doesn’t want to talk to the other, the other does not have a right to be closer than 8 feet to them.”
The ordinance passed 4-2 with Bauman, Tibby DeJulio, Melissa Mular and John Paulson voting in favor.
City council members Jody Reichel and Melody Kelley dissented.
After the meeting, ACLU representatives said they were disappointed in the city’s decisions. They issued the following statement to Appen Media: “Repressing speech across the entire city of Sandy Springs is a broad and dangerous overreach that does nothing to make residents safer. Instead, it violates core constitutional protections and sets a troubling precedent for government overreach. We are actively exploring all legal options and urge the City Council to reconsider and reverse their decision.”
This story was provided by WABE content partner Appen Media.
