In the future, Charlottesville may have its own Downtown Mall version of Beta Bridge if plans for a community blackboard follow through.
Five years ago, Robert O'Neil, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free Expression and former University president, approached Charlottesville City Council with the idea for a monument to the First Amendment.
After a contest to determine its design, the winning architects came up with an idea that would take Charlottesville residents back to their elementary school days: a giant community blackboard for them to express their thoughts and feelings for all to see.
The mammoth blackboard idea opens up a cornucopia of creative opportunities for Charlottesville residents, with those strolling the Downtown Mall's cobbled streets able to admire and participate in creating political statements, poetry or just plain doodles on the monument. It has not yet been determined if chalk would be provided.
But with the opportunity for unbridled expression comes the potential for controversy.
To address the possibility of the chalked messages offending anyone, City Council will hold a public hearing Feb. 5 at City Hall in order to gauge the opinion of city residents regarding the proposed monument.
"I will predict that after the first hate statement goes up, someone will call us and ask us to get rid of it," City Councilman David Toscano said.
Mayor Blake Caravati, however, said he has a different take on the potential for problems and feels residents will know how to handle messages they find offensive.
"If I see someone write something offensive to me, I can erase it," Caravati said. "Both are acts of free expression."
The blackboard would operate in a similar fashion to the University's Beta Bridge where people offended by a statement and wishing to see it removed can paint over it, he said.
Even the center sponsoring the monument is open to the idea of posting rules governing the use of the community space.
"You're allowed to restrict speech in certain places, times and manners," Toscano said, explaining that rules calling for entries on the monument to be tasteful would not be a violation of the First Amendment, especially given the prominent location of the proposed blackboard, where many community members would come in contact with the messages.
After City Council hears the local community's opinion on the proposal, it can choose to pass an ordinance to allow for the creation of the blackboard.
The Board of Architectural Review unanimously approved the monument as appropriate. The designation means that the monument was designed in proper taste for its proposed location, which will be across from City Hall.
The Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free Expression plans to raise funds for the monument. Plans call for private funding for the project, rather than using the funds available to City Council.
Currently, Utah's Salt Lake City has the only monument to the First Amendment.
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