City Attorney Dan Lee returned to the Sandy Springs City Council on March 18 with three ordinances proposed by the Anti-Defamation League intended to combat hate crime and extremist activities.
“What these three ordinances don’t do is infringe on the content of anybody’s speech. It just declares where it can be carried on, how the police can control it, and it gives some direction to the public about distances and the manners that are allowed to be carried on in what would hopefully be a lawful protest,” Lee said.
When Lee and Police Chief Ken DeSimone brought proposals for consideration in January, city council members worried that the suggested ordinance amendments would violate individuals’ First Amendment rights and fail to address real concerns. They questioned why the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) hadn’t been consulted. Mayor Rusty Paul asked them to contact the ADL before coming back to the council.
Lee consulted with the ADL, and had Ryan Pelfrey, the senior associate regional director for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Southeast Region, attend the March 18 work session. Pelfrey said the ADL has seen a nearly 900 percent increase in incidents in the past decade. An ADL audit of antisemitic incidents in 2023 in Georgia showed a 115 percent increase.
Several times in Sandy Springs flyers and hate-filled literature were found in driveways, Pelfrey said.
A door-to-door solicitation ordinance would limit canvassing between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. to address issues with unwanted literature being distributed at homes.
“We’ve had issues with different entities, some commercial, some hateful, some just unwanted distribution of literature, not asked for by homeowners, left in driveways, causing trash to accumulate and blow down the street,” Lee said.
Rough Draft Atlanta reported that homes in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody were papered with antisemitic flyers in February 2023.
The ingress and egress ordinance would enable police to act when protestors block public access. Lee said Sandy Springs Police officers have had problems at consulates, houses of worship, and private schools. The ordinance sets a 50-foot radius to a property entrance to give enough room to get in and out.
The third ordinance would require anyone who distributed leaflets or other literature to stay eight feet away from individuals who do not want the leaflets. The person handing out leaflets would not have to move if individuals walked up to or past them.
Brookhaven is the only city in Georgia that has passed similar legislation, Lee said.
Council member Jody Reichel asked if the ordinance has been challenged in court.
Lee said this ordinance has not been challenged, but the conduct the city would regulate and how the ordinance challenges that conduct has been tested in court. He said a Colorado law directed against handing out anti-abortion pamphlets to people who didn’t want them has withstood scrutiny by the U.S. Supreme Court. The same wording was used in the draft ordinance from the Anti-Defamation League, he said.
