By Corey Williams
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A nonprofit group that maintains a popular downtown Detroit park improperly barred groups from protesting there, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed this week. The American Civil Liberties Union names the Detroit 300 Conservancy and Guardsmark security in its lawsuit filed in federal court in Detroit.
The lawsuit contends that a security guard asked four members of the anti-foreclosure group Moratorium NOW! to leave Campus Martius as they began petitioning last February against cuts to city pensions in Detroit’s bankruptcy plan. The guard told the group that the public park was in fact private and that they risked arrest, according to the lawsuit.
About 15 members of Women in Black-Detroit, an anti-war group, also were prohibited in June 2013 from marching through the park, said the suit.
“Campus Martius belongs to the city of Detroit and its people,” ACLU staff attorney Brooke Tucker told reporters Wednesday. “Regardless of who manages our public assets, no private organization’s rules will ever trump the freedoms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.”
The ACLU is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the banning of petitions and marches at Campus Martius, and an admission from the conservancy that the actions violated First Amendment rights, Tucker said.
Campus Martius is considered by many as downtown Detroit’s public square. Musical programs, Christmas tree-lighting ceremonies and other events are held there. The park is turned into an ice-skating rink in the winter.
On its website, the Detroit 300 Conservancy lists itself as successor to Detroit 300 Inc., which funded construction of Campus Martius. The conservancy also says it is “responsible for management, maintenance and operation of the park” under an agreement with the city.
The Associated Press left phone messages Wednesday with conservancy president Robert Gregory, who is named in the lawsuit, and Guardsmark.
Mayor Mike Duggan’s office said the lawsuit is being carefully reviewed.
“The city will appropriately respond in court,” city attorney Melvin Hollowell said in an email. “Of particular note is that the two alleged events giving rise to the lawsuit occurred a year ago and almost a year and a half ago, respectively. The city of Detroit respects the constitutional rights of all our citizens, and our policies reflect that.”
Duggan took office as mayor in January 2014.
Detroit, which emerged in December from the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy, has entered into public-private partnerships as a way to improve some public amenities without using money the city doesn’t have available.
The ACLU says in 2013 it urged another nonprofit — the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy — to stop preventing demonstrations along the Detroit RiverWalk.
“As privatization becomes more widespread (there is concern) that people will somehow lose their rights,” said Michael Steinberg, ACLU legal director. “Campus Martius is a public park owned by the city of Detroit for the people of the city of Detroit, and they should be able to express their views on matters of public importance just like at any other public park.”
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