Chicago Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno wades into the Chick-Fill-A kerfuffle:
Chicago Alderman] Proco “Joe” Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A’s effort to build its second Chicago store … following company President Dan Cathy’s remarks last week that he was “guilty as charged” for supporting the biblical definition of marriage as between a man and woman….
The alderman has the ideological support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,” the mayor said in a statement when asked about Moreno’s decision. “They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”
Moreno is relying on a rarely violated Chicago tradition known as aldermanic privilege, which dictates that City Council members defer to the opinion of the ward alderman on local issues. Last year Moreno wielded that weapon to block plans for a Wal-Mart in his ward, saying he had issues with the property owner and that Wal-Mart was not “a perfect fit for the area.” …
The alderman, serving his first full term, dismissed any First Amendment concerns.
“You have the right to say what you want to say, but zoning is not a right,” he said, adding that he also had concerns about traffic in the area….
As the Volokh Conspiracy points out, this amounts to illegal viewpoint discrimination.
Moreno's pronouncement pretty clearly identifies this as a municipal policy for purposes of liability under 42 USC Section 1983.
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