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St. Pete council cools on censorship

TT:

A measure aimed at curbing obscenities at outdoor concerts died Thursday when the city council deadlocked on the controversial proposal.

Council members voted 4-4 on a motion to send the draft policy to a full council committee for further discussion and possible recommended action, effectively killing it - at least for now.

Council Chairman Jim Bennett cast the deciding vote. Bennett wanted to see Mayor Rick Baker and his staff recommend a way to address the issue before deciding whether to send the policy to the council's Committee of the Whole.

``If we write legislation, it's not going to stop, and it may even create more of this behavior,'' Bennett said. ``If you have people believing their rights are being trampled, then you'll have a wider and more broad problem.''

The policy city attorneys drafted last month would prohibit the amplification of profanity during outdoor events co-sponsored by the city.

It was a response to complaints in November from neighbors about excessive noise and profanity during a concert that featured rapper 50 Cent at Vinoy Park downtown.

The policy would require some promoters to post a $10,000 cash bond with the city. Each indecent word a performer used after receiving two warnings would cost $500, up to a maximum $10,000 - at which point the city would shut down the sound system.

``Something needs to come out of this where we can prevent this from happening again,'' council member Bill Foster said.

Dissenting council members said the policy and its as- yet-undetermined list of banned words posed First Amendment questions.

``We're going to get into something we don't need to get into,'' council member John Bryan said.

Here’s some background on the 50 Cent concert which scared some white folks. Here’s some more on the St. Pete City Censorship Committee.