Councilman Roy Christensen wants to bring an end to the summer of signs at Lincoln City Council meetings.
Council meetings since June have predominantly featured sign-holding people protesting police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May.
Their signs calling for the defunding of police prompted police supporters to show up with their own poster board messages.
During Monday night's council meeting on the proposed budget, those testifying moved about the room to position their signs so they could be seen on the LNKTV cameras broadcasting the meeting.
Christensen has had enough and proposed an ordinance that outlaws signs in Council Chambers.
His proposal, which is set for a public hearing next week, came in direct response to a sign incident in late June.
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During the council's June 29 meeting, people holding opposing signs kept moving their signs around to cover others up, prompting Councilwoman Jane Raybould to call for a stop to the antics.
Christensen called that incident the "battle of the signs" and said it upset council members.
"It was distracting to us and disrespectful to the speaker," he said.
Christensen believes the ban would uphold decorum in Council Chambers.
His ordinance defines a sign as any structure, object, display, device or fixture that is visible or audible from a public place that incorporates any words, letters, graphics, sounds or symbols.
The ban wouldn't apply to speakers whom the council chairs allow to use visual aids as part of a presentation.
New group on housing rights
A new multi-organization effort seeks to focus attention on housing rights and a looming eviction crisis in Lincoln and Nebraska.
Speak Up for Housing Rights combines local, civic, legal, education and arts organizations to highlight the eviction problem and get residents and local leaders to address it decisively, the group said in a news release.
An Aspen Institute study projects 107,000 Nebraskans will face eviction in September with federal unemployment benefits ending and eviction moratoriums lifted.
Lancaster County has had 28,000 residents apply for unemployment benefits since March, and Lincoln already struggled with housing affordability before the pandemic, the news release said.
“Eviction is a cause of poverty, not a condition of it, and Speak Up appeals to our city’s community spirit to confront this urgent issue head-on,” said Shawn Ryba, executive director of the South of Downtown Community Development Organization.
Joining the South of Downtown group in this initiative are Legal Aid of Nebraska, LUX Center for the Arts, History Nebraska, Lincoln City Libraries, the Sheldon Museum of Art, the University of Nebraska College of Law's Civil Clinic, NeighborWorks Lincoln, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights, the Nebraska Housing Developers Association, YWCA of Lincoln, Civic Nebraska and Nebraska Appleseed.
The Speak Up initiative will feature panel discussions, listening sessions and forums, a community book club and a Nebraska History Museum exhibit later this year.
For more information on the initiative and its events, visit .
Fast takes
$33.5 million — The proposed budget for the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District for its next fiscal year. The budget includes $2.6 million in funding for the Dead Man's Run Flood Reduction Project and $1.25 million in Salt Creek Levee repairs, among other projects. The budget proposes no increase in the amount of property taxes collected this year.
Jack Rodenburg — The person calling on the Lincoln City Council on Monday to defund the police department, who stood out by rapping his testimony. Watch it