Murals on private property
Q: I would like to find court decisions where city ordinances or actions prohibiting murals on private property have been thrown out because they violate the First Amendment or California’s Constitution. It is my understanding that murals are protected as speech and cities cannot regulate them by permit on private property. I believe there have been several cases regarding this, some filed by the ACLU.
A: You are probably thinking of City of Indio v. Arroyo, 143 Cal.App.3d 151 (1983), which overturned as unconstitutionally broad an ordinance that had been interpreted to bar a convenience store from keeping a mural that depicted Mexican heritage. You should be aware that the decision noted that the Court did not “place wall murals beyond all municipal regulation. If the city could demonstrate, for example, that the mural posed a traffic hazard, or that the building on which it appeared failed to comply with structural or fire safety requirements,” or was obscene, or was primarily commercial speech (“COLD BEER, COME INSIDE”), then the regulation might be upheld.