The city of Sandy Springs has passed controversial legislation requiring anyone who is holding a sign or passing out leaflets to get permission from a person before approaching them within 8 feet.
The so-called “buffer zone” ordinance appears to be the first of its kind in Georgia, according to Sandy Springs Councilman Andy Bauman and the Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate organization that provided Sandy Springs with model language for the ordinance.
Members of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia criticized the ordinance as too broad and said it violates constitutional protections.
Supporters of the legislation, one of three related ordinances that the City Council passed last week, say it allows for people to practice their First Amendment rights while giving others some space if they don’t want to be approached by someone pushing an agenda. The legislation’s supporters also say it provides clear guidelines for police when they are trying to keep order during demonstrations.
“I believe these ordinances do a very good job of creating an environment that is welcoming because everybody will know what exactly they can do, where they can do it and when they can do it,” Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul said at the April 1 City Council meeting.
Several City Council members asked pointed questions about the legislation, with Melody Kelley and Jody Reichel voting against the ordinance. It passed with a 4-2 vote.
Kelley said she will be watching closely to see “how it’s actually used.”
“I imagine it could be weaponized by someone who doesn’t want to see a certain kind of protest, something as simple as people waving signs on a street corner,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “That’s my fear.”
The ACLU of Georgia urged the City Council to reverse its decision and said the organization is “actively exploring all legal options.”
“Repressing speech across the entire city of Sandy Springs is a broad and dangerous overreach that does nothing to make residents safer,” Cory Isaacson, legal director for the ACLU of Georgia, said in a statement. “Instead, it violates core constitutional protections and sets a troubling precedent for government overreach.”
Debate over the ordinance grew heated at times.
Kelley called the ordinance “incredibly broad,” noting that it applies to people offering education or counseling, as well as to people harassing others.
“Now I feel like we’re treating people like kids almost — you’ve got to be 8 feet apart,” she said.
Police Chief Kenneth DeSimone said the ordinance is needed, citing a 2023 “stand with Israel” event held three days after the Hamas attacks on Israel. DeSimone said two people with Palestinian flags walked into the crowd on the city green.
“They walked through there for only one reason, and that was to intimidate the Jewish community,” DeSimone said.
A police spokesperson, Sgt. Leon Millholland, said Wednesday that no arrests were made at the gathering of several thousand pro-Israel demonstrators and that it “never got out of hand.” He said pro-Palestinian protesters also had a permit to gather about 100 yards east of the city green. Police redirected any of them who approached the pro-Israel event back to the pro-Palestinian gathering place, Millholland said.
“Do you think that’s harassment, somebody walking through with a Palestinian flag?” DeSimone asked Kelley during the council meeting.
As Kelley was responding to his question, DeSimone interrupted her and turned his attention to Reichel, asking her: “You’re Jewish. Would that be harassing to you?”
“I don’t think that would be harassing,” Reichel replied. “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. But I do believe in the First Amendment, and I believe in free speech.”
Reichel then asked the chief if he believed it would be harassment if she were to walk by someone who is Palestinian while wearing a Jewish Star of David.
“I would say it is, if it’s an event of some other community,” such as a Palestinian group, he replied.
Credit: Courtesy Photo
Credit: Courtesy Photo
At one point, after the police chief described protesters as “pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas,” Reichel told him: “There’s a difference between pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas. The people that are out here that are Palestinian are not necessarily Hamas.”
In an appeal to the City Council, DeSimone added: “It’s on us to prevent chaos, and if you don’t help us out, chaos will ensue. You’ve got to help us out.”
Credit: Katja Ridderbusch
Credit: Katja Ridderbusch
Of the two other ordinances the council approved last week, one prohibits blocking another person from entering or leaving a public facility or place of worship. The other bans soliciting and canvassing on residential properties between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., which supporters say will address the problem of people leaving antisemitic or other hateful flyers outside homes.
The ordinances creating the 8-foot buffer zone and prohibiting people from blocking entrances are criminal misdemeanors, said city spokesperson Dan Coffer.
For the overnight “soliciting and canvassing” legislation, an initial violation would be a civil infraction. Any second or subsequent violation, within one year of the first offense, would be a misdemeanor.
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