Free Speech Takes Precedence Here Niagara Falls Leaders Agree on Sign

Legal in Niagara Falls: This sign hangs proudly and free on Hyde Park Blvd in Niagara Falls. A sister sign was deemed illegal by the anti-first amendment Democrats in Hamburg .

Compared to nearby Hamburg in Erie County, Niagara Falls is the land of the free and the home of the brave when it comes to political speech.

The free are the people of the city, whose right to express political views in ways that some might consider unorthodox was upheld last week. And the brave are Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, Dennis Virtuoso, head of the city's Code Enforcement Department, and Corporation Counsel Craig Johnson, who ruled in favor of the First Amendment and the protection of free speech here.

At issue were two large signs opposing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's SAFE Act, a gun control measure that was passed in the days following a tragic school shooting in Connecticut. The signs - one had been affixed to a chain link fence so that it could be seen by traffic passing along 79th Street - and the other sits large on Hyde Park near Niagara facing passersby.

The signs say:

"NEW YORK IS NOT S.A.F.E.!!," it said. "STOP CUOMO -- PRESERVE YOUR RIGHTS!!"

The Niagara Falls signs are identical to one posted in Hamburg by Scott Zawierucha on a fence outside his home. He was cited by Hamburg code enforcement officers under an obscure statute that prohibits property owners from posting signs on fences that face out onto the street.

Following a nine-month legal battle, Zawierucha threw in the towel and agreed to take the sign down in return for having the charges against him dropped.

He later claimed that the sign's content, rather than its placement on the fence, was the real target of the prosecution. He had a similar sign out when the Hamburg Town Board was controlled by Republicans, he said, and only ran into trouble following last year's election, when control of the board flipped to the Democrats.

While both Dyster and Virtuoso are Democrats who have vocally supported Cuomo in the past, they felt that the First Amendment and the rule of law were more important than partisan politics.

Virtuoso said that he checked with the City Charter following a complaint about the 79th Street sign, and found that signs were permitted whether they were for a candidate or an issue that had to do with federal, state or local concerns.

"I ran it by the mayor and the corporation counsel and they both agreed with my position," Virtuoso told the Niagara Falls Reporter.

So score one for Niagara Falls. While Hamburg may be a more prosperous municipality, what good is money if you don't have the right to say what you want?

Illegal in Hamburg. This sign was deemed illegal by the Democrats now in control of the Hamburg town board. It is not clear if the sign still would have been illegal had it been a sign supporting the SAFE Act.