Crowd at free speech rally decries Sands deed restrictions at SteelStacks
Nov 21, 2012 (The Morning Call (Menafn - Allentown - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --In the shadow of the former Bethlehem Steel furnaces where the labor movement gained force, more than 100 retired steelworkers, activists, educators and others gathered Tuesday to rally against deed restrictions there.
The restrictions on the land -- now a public plaza at SteelStacks -- prohibit union organizing and talking offensively about the Sands casino.
People hoisted signs saying "Don't Gamble Away Our Free Speech" and "Free Speech In Our Town Square" as they listened to speakers call the restrictions illegal and a strike at the memory of everyone who toiled there.
Joe Welsh, an attorney, reminded the crowd what happened after King George III trampled on the freedoms of the people in the 13 colonies.
"Mr. Adelson, this is our land," he said, referring to Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, a vocal opponent of unions.
"This is our land," the crowd chanted. "This is our land."
Welsh said he hopes the crowd's message is loud enough to reach Adelson in Las Vegas.
The rally comes a little more than a year after Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, the economic driver of the redevelopment of the former Steel plant, conveyed land to the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority as part of the SteelStacks arts and entertainment campus.
City officials say the Sands would not close the deal without the deed restrictions. City and authority officials said the language is similar to what's imposed in many shopping malls and questioned whether it can be enforced on public land. Similar restrictions were imposed on the ArtsQuest Center and PBS39 studios.
Yet, ralliers sought to test those restrictions by criticizing Adelson on the very land that carries a deed restriction forbidding language offensive to the casino owner.
Bethlehem Police Chief Jason Schiffer, in uniform, watched the rally from the outskirts of the crowd. He said he was monitoring it like any similar event so no one's free speech rights would be violated -- either the ralliers or any counter-protesters, if they had shown up.
Schiffer said he would not disperse the crowd.
A Sands spokeswoman said officials were not available for comment Tuesday.
While speakers at the rally said they believe city officials were strong-armed into accepting the terms, they argued it is time for them to stand up and retract the language of the deed restrictions.
Mark Barenberg, a Columbia University law professor who previously spoke about the restrictions, compared them to the "company towns" where employers owned the homes of employees and turned them out if they organized. The same thing, he argued, was happening at what Bethlehem has dubbed "Town Square."
"Make no mistake," he said. "The deed is an ugly threat against free speech."
Esther Lee, president of the NAACP's Bethlehem chapter, said she is connected to the old plant through her steelworker brother and understands the significance of free speech through her struggles for the Civil Rights Act. She said the Sands could not take away her right to speak, not in 2012.
"Don't let them play with our free speech," she said. "When I can't talk, I get real angry."
The event, organized by United Steelworkers 2599 President Jerry Green, ended with the group singing "This Land is Your Land."
Many of those who attended had some connection to The Steel, like Sandra Glyckas and her husband, Manny. He worked at Steel for 30 years, even transferring to the Indiana plant so he could get in his 30 years before retiring.
"We're here to support the union," Sandra Glyckas said.
Others drawn were community leaders like Olga Negron of Bethlehem. Negron said she commends the Sands for bringing jobs and its community involvement, but that she couldn't accept the restriction.
"We have a right, and [the restriction] has to go," she said.
Green said he will meet with allies, including Lehigh University's South Side Initiative, to determine the next move. He said he would like to see the deed cleared of the restriction.
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