NC ACLU Adds "Retaliation" Claim to Lawsuit

Hello!

This week, the ACLU of North Carolina filed an amended complaint in our case (as in, an updated version of the lawsuit), because sufficient evidence has emerged about the not-just-unconstitutional nature of the City’s actions, but the also-terribly-retaliatory nature of our arrests and park bans.

In the amended complaint, the ACLU cites a violation of rights under the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause, saying that we, the plaintiffs, were “singled … out for extreme and punitive enforcement that was not pursued against other individuals or entities engaged in littering, based on… [our] vocal criticism directed at APD and other City officials.”

This claim includes reference to a remarkable email exchange from June of 2022 between the person who oversees the City’s Sanitation Division and Debra Campbell, the City Manager (and a defendant in our complaint). In this exchange, the City's solid waste manager brings attention to the “OVER 900 illegal dumping service orders” Sanitation filed in the last 6 years, that “even when evidence of perpetrators is available and provided, APD will not follow up [on].”

These emails, along with many others, were obtained and are viewable via Asheville’s Public Records portal (which leads to this request folder).

For our part, it is so heartening to see this City employee lead with their ethical commitments; so much of what we see in public records requests are Council members and City staff saying a lot of gross stuff. And, since we have our own experience of how the City treats people who complicate its tourist-centered, “progressive” public image that has generated so much money (mostly for people who already have it), we also worry about this person’s job. We hope that worry is unfounded <3

Stay tuned for more updates as this case progresses, and follow us at our new Instagram account, @parksareforeveryone!