Not Good Neighbors

Update: A friend tells me there's a petition signing table set up in front of Half Price Books in Westport (map). The circulators have permission to be on the property. The anti circulators do not. You can sign the petition free of harassment.

If this is how they react to a disagreement, then I don't want them in my community.

Do I plan to sign the petition against the Highwoods Plaza project? Frankly, this wasn't even a question for me. I haven't decided whether to vote for the measure if it does get on the ballot. As I said a few weeks ago, I'm conflicted about the project. But I'm almost always happy to sign a petition. I'm almost always happy to let the voters weigh in on an issue affecting the future of my home.

Which is why I was annoyed by the the "decline to sign" mailer that arrived in my mailbox last week. You probably got one too, a red flyer urging citizens of the city to not sign the petition of the citizens group opposing Highwoods' proposed Plaza redevelopment. But I could live with the flyer. Highwoods has as much of a right to free speech as anyone.

What I learned next left me at a loss for words. As reported by both Michael Mahoney and the Star, Highwoods has hired people to shadow the petition circulators to discourage signing.

At the very least this behavior is questionable. At what point does this discouragement become harassment? I'm sure the lawyers at Husch Blackwell, the law firm spearheading the Highwoods counter measure know how to draw a legal line between discouraging and harassing. It's not the legal line that will matter to most people. It's the moral one. Will the targets of the discouragement recognize it as acceptable just because it's legal? Will they even know that it's legal?

Legal or not, the response bothers me. For better or for worse, Highwoods is a member of this community. If this is how they react to a disagreement, then I don't want them in my community.