After deferring a decision at previous meetings, the Chapel Hill Transit partners should come to a consensus tonight on the town’s bus ad policy, and the Chapel Hill Town Council should agree to implement that decision at its next meeting.
The firestorm about bus ads began when the Church of Reconciliation ran a controversial ad calling for an end to American military aid to Israel. The debate intensified when Pamela Geller threatened to sue if the town declined to run one of her pro-Israel ads.
Geller’s ad has not run because the town decided last month to freeze all ads on Chapel Hill Transit buses. Ads will be frozen until the council’s Dec. 3 meeting.
Since then, people have debated as to whether allowing the first ad and preventing the second from running was right. This debate has led to a question of if the town should allow political, religious, or issue-based advertisements at all.
The lack of a decision on the policy puts the stability of transit operations at risk and provides little clarity for potential advertisers. Kicking the can down the road helps no one.
Just because choosing how to regulate bus ads is a difficult, politically charged decision doesn’t mean the Town Council is excused from making it. It’s council members’ job to make tough calls.
Despite arguments from both sides about the nature of the ads in question, a decision has to be made to set precedent for the future.
If the partners and Town Council don’t come to a decision, future advertisers may be uninterested in working with the transit system.
To ensure the viability of Chapel Hill Transit in the future, it is imperative that the council comes to an agreement on a new bus ad policy at tonight’s meeting.
