BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CRESCENT SPRINGS -- A lawyer says the mayor's refusal to let his clients or him address council Monday on a proposed landlord - tenant law is a violation of their free speech rights.
"Denying tenants or their representative the right to speak at the regular meeting would seem to violate the spirit of the First Amendment of the Constitution," lawyer Phil Taliaferro wrote Friday in a letter to Mayor Ken Robinson and city council.
"Now when I ask to address council on behalf of several renters, you prohibit me from doing so," Mr. Taliaferro wrote the mayor. "Although my clients do not own property in Crescent Springs, they pay taxes and do not deserve to be treated as "second class citizens.' "
When reached at his home Saturday night, Mr. Robinson said the letter is an unfair attempt to discredit him.
"Monday night is the first reading (on the landlord - tenant ordinance)," Mr. Robinson said. "There is no public comment, which is normal for a first reading."
Mr. Robinson said Mr. Taliaferro has been invited to address council at next month's council meeting, when a final vote is expected to be taken, but he said that Mr. Taliaferro has not responded.
Mr. Taliaferro's criticisms were triggered by a Sept. 20 letter that Mr. Robinson wrote to Crescent Springs' apartment tenants. In that letter, the mayor asked tenants to contact city council before Monday's meeting and express their opinions on a proposed ordinance that would allow tenants to go directly to district court to address legitimate disputes with landlords.
The mayor wrote that two opponents of the proposed legislation have been invited to select a third panelist to discuss the issue in a caucus meeting one hour before Monday's 7 p.m. council meeting.
