Freedom of Speech Challenged in Helotes?
He then showed up at my door with another City employee, a young man who appeared to me to be his bodyguard, and told me that I did not own the fence. It belonged to the new CVS store, and I should talk to them.
Then the young man accompanying Mr. Encina pointed out to me that they would have to cite me for the (anti-Obama) political sign on my front porch if I did not remove it. I responded by telling them to “get with it. I would love to go to court on this issue.”
Then it suddenly dawned on me that possibly (by being made to remove my gate) I was being harassed for my political position. I mentioned to them that my sign had been up for less than 2 weeks, and they were threatening to issue me a citation, but my next door neighbor has had a pro-Obama political sign on her front fence for over a year, and the City had not bothered her. They indicated that they would have her sign removed.
After I removed the gate as requested, Mr. Encina showed up at my door again indicating that the Mayor was making a personal request for me to remove my sign, which he thought was in bad taste (it contained a word the public in general might find offensive-ed.). I consented to remove it if they would have my neighbor remove hers. Mr. Encina again assured me that he would have her sign removed, so in good faith, I went on and removed mine anticipating the removal of hers.
It has now been 3 weeks, and her Obama sign is still there, and I am seriously considering putting my sign back up.
What do you think? Am I being harassed for my political stance? Is my right to free speech being challenged by the City? Is this an issue the City should even be involved in?
Actually, the Mayor has had sign problems of his own. Remember the flashing highway signs erected in a couple of spots along Bandera Road supporting Schoolcraft in his first election? Those violated the City’s Sign Ordinance, but Schoolcraft refused to remove them, and the City backed down, probably because the City Attorney knew they would lose in court.
He didn’t get off scott-free though. If what I heard is correct, he ended up paying a stout fine to the Texas Ethics Commission for the sign violations (and probably huge attorney fees).