The City of Ithaca’s noise ordinance, which has recently been a source of tension between students living in Collegetown and the Ithaca Police Department, is being challenged for its constitutionality in federal court.
Syracuse resident James Deferio, a traveling Christian evangelist, filed a lawsuit against Ithaca last week, claiming that the city’s noise ordinance violated his First Amendment right to free speech and his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.
Deferio alleged that while he was preaching his message on the Ithaca Commons in August, an Ithaca Police officer approached him and “explained that Deferio would have to lower his voice or stop speaking, because his voice could be heard 25 feet away,” which violates a City noise ordinance.