New York City mayor Bill de Blasio admitted Monday that he did not follow proper permitting procedure when he ordered city workers to paint Black Lives Matter murals in each of the city’s five bureaus, the New York Post reports, potentially putting the city at legal risk and opening the door for more political speech in the form of street art.
On Monday, the mayor claimed that the city has not turned down requests to paint street murals, but said that there is a “process” for applying to create public art.
“We haven’t said ‘no’ to people, we’ve said, ‘If you want to apply, you can apply, but there’s a process,’” De Blasio told reporters.
Several other groups, including a conservative women’s group that is now suing the city of New York, said they applied to create similar murals but were turned down, even though it appears that, legally, the city has opened the streets as a public forum for political speech.
The pro-Trump Women for America First contends, in their complaint, that the Black Lives Matter murals were approved without officials having to navigate the city’s outlined process — and De Blasio admitted as much in his press conference, openly suggesting that the Black Lives Matter mural was so important, it didn’t require a permit. – READ MORE
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