The Freedom of Religion Foundation has filed a lawsuit against Rancho Cucomonga in the wake of their billboard being taken down after someone in city hall made an inquiry about taking it down.
Though the city is denying that they had anything to do with it, the Daily Bullinten quoted Linda Daniels, the Redevelopment Director, as saying:
“We contacted the sign company and asked if there was a way to get it removed,”
If “we” doesn’t mean the city, someone needs to step up and explain exactly who these “we” are. Because as it stands, Linda Daniels is listed on the city’s site as an employee of the city.
The city’s official response seems to be that the billboard company just up and decided to take the sign down itself as you can see from the following email I recieved after complaining about their involvement.
Thank you so much for your inquiry regarding the “No Religion” billboard and the media’s coverage regarding its removal. For the record, we would like to inform you that the City of Rancho Cucamonga did notsuggest, nor did it request, that any billboard content be removed from the billboard. Advertising content decisions rest with the company that sells the advertising space, not with the City. The placement and removal of advertising content is a private business decision.
The City of Rancho Cucamonga supports freedom of speech and expression. It does not have any authority over the content of any billboard, and
does not involve itself in private business transactions between
companies that provide billboard advertising and companies/organizations that desire to utilize billboards for advertising purposes. The City of Rancho Cucamonga has NO role in controlling billboard content.
I don’t buy it. Daniel’s was either misquoted or the “we” in her statement refers to the city (aka: her employer). IMHO, any request she makes of a private company in her official capacity is a request by the city. The FFRF should win this one.
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