During the September 9 Township Council meeting, a resident noted that there have regularly been protesters who are not from Livingston outside of Town Hall. Specifically, there have been countering protests related to the Israel-Hamas war throughout 2024. People have shown up with signs and flags both in support of Israel and the safe return of the hostages taken on October 7, 2023; and in defense of Palestinian civilians and calling for a ceasefire. In recent months, these protests have occurred at the same time each week – Mondays beginning at noon.
To accommodate these protests, a northbound lane of traffic on South Livingston Avenue is shut down, a Livingston Police patrol car is stationed in the lane, and several LPD officers are on hand to ensure the protests remain peaceful, potentially taking the officers away from other duties. These expenditures of time, labor, and equipment are not free, of course, and so at the September 9 meeting, this resident suggested charging out-of-town protesters a fee to recoup these charges. Mayor Al Anthony noted that the Council was exploring the idea of doing so.
For many reasons, charging protesting fees would be foolish, and we are fairly certain, not even enforceable constitutionally. To state the obvious, these non-residents have every right to peacefully protest on public land under the First Amendment. But more to the point, they are protesting exactly where it makes sense for them to do so – in front of the office of their representative. For those who have forgotten, at the end of 2023, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill moved her District 11 office to the second floor of Town Hall. While we were excited to have our congressional representative in Livingston, we questioned at the time if Town Hall was the most appropriate location within the community for her office. These demonstrations occurring with increasing frequency outside of Livingston’s Town Hall, inconveniencing employees and residents trying to conduct business as quickly and painlessly as possible, is part of the tradeoff of that office’s location. And for anyone who takes issue with them, it is worth remembering that protests are meant to attract attention for their causes.
It should be noted too, as far as the cost of protests are concerned, that Rep. Sherrill’s district office is paying to lease the space in Town Hall, so if one needs to account for the expenditures of out-of-town protests, perhaps that is one way to think about “evening out” costs.
All citizens have a First Amendment right to peacefully protest, not just Livingston-based ones.
