TRI In The News
Loud, 'Mean-Spirited' Preachers Hurt Business, Restaurateurs Say
From The Daily Press
Original article available here
Two restaurants targeted by street preachers are all for speech restrictions at Merchants Square.
The City Council postponed action last Thursday on a proposal to designate "presentation areas" at each end of Merchants Square. The delay was prompted by a five-page letter from the Rutherford Institute arguing that the zones would be unconstitutional limits on free speech.
But Louise Wood, general manager of the Trellis Restaurant, can't wait. Neither can Mary Ellen Power, co-owner of the Fat Canary and Cheese Shop. "Absolutely," both said in separate interviews about imposing restrictions.
"It's just as obnoxious as it could be," Wood said. "People want to enjoy their dinner and talk with their friends. They aren't here to hear someone's opinions about religion."
She said the street preachers have been "very belligerent" when asked by customers to hold it down. They use bullhorns and amplified microphones, and the noise disrupts dinner conversation. Police officers have responded, to no avail.
Across the street at the Fat Canary, Power said, "We have regular customers and visitors who ask us if we can make them stop."
The content is as much a problem as the volume, she said.
"They are just the opposite of the open-hearted, generous people I would think would be talking about religion," Power said. "They are very mean-spirited and self-righteous. They make derogatory comments about women and minorities."
Power said that's hardly the image the Historic Area or Merchants Square wants to project. "We are inclusive of everyone. We want everyone to be able to enjoy Merchants Square."
She added, "They are definitely detrimental to my small family business. We are here trying to provide a good product and customer service, and I know all our neighbors are the same."
A Colonial Williamsburg spokesman said, "We have had complaints from visitors who felt harassed, mostly during events. That usually happens at Grand Illumination or the Fourth of July."
City Manager Jack Tuttle said creating soapbox zones would move preachers down Duke of Gloucester Street, well away from the restaurants.
The zone at the college end of Merchants Square would shift protestors out of the sightlines of drivers navigating a tricky College Corner.
Who decides what's a demonstration or an "expressive event" in the city's terminology? What about a student sitting on the sidewalk playing guitar?
"That's part of the challenge of writing the ordinance, defining 'expressive event' and making sure that it's applied uniformly," Tuttle said Tuesday. "We've said nobody wants to stop a student from playing guitar, but if he opens his case and solicits donations, then he's crossed a line."
The ordinance wouldn't confine all demonstrations to the free-speech zones. "It says if you want to stay in the presentation area, you don't have to get a permit," he said. "If you wanted to be elsewhere, you would have to apply for a permit."
The ordinance would ban amplification without a permit. "You can't violate the noise ordinance," Tuttle added. "This would clarify that."
