Daily Pilot:  08.14.03

This article appeared on the Daily Pilot, HEADLINE, Thursday, August 14th, 2003:

A Tale of Balboa Doesn't End Happily
■ Local Web site shuts down after a debate about its link to FreeNewport.com, run by a group that has battled Newport Beach City Hall

NEWPORT BEACH — Business association representatives say it was a legitimate discussion on whether a link to the FreeNewport.com Web site was consistent with association goals. A FreeNewport spokesman says it amounts to city officials policing the Internet and using their influence to shut the group out.

At a meeting of the Balboa Business Improvement District on Tuesday morning, TalesofBalboa.com Webmaster Jim Fournier was discussing with district members his hope to put a feature on his Web site called "This Week in Balboa," highlighting some of the happenings at local businesses. But the discussion took a turn as members questioned TalesofBalboa.com's link to FreeNewport.com — a site and affiliation that some members found inconsistent with the group's goal of promoting local business.

In a series of e-mails after the meeting, district members asked their city staff liaison, Dan Trimble, his opinion on the affiliation with FreeNewport.com.

Trimble responded: "I think anybody who claims to be supporting or promoting Balboa or Newport Beach cannot, in good conscience, also claim that the Web site/link referred to is consistent with that objective. The graphic at the top of the Web page should speak for itself. A red hammer and sickle next to the letters NB in a red circle with a line through it. It is Jim's choice which links are on his site, but it also the choice of the [business improvement district] who they link with and those links and sites should be consistent with the [business improvement district's] mission."

The hammer and sickle images appear on FreeNewport.com's Web site. Spokesman Bryan Clarkson describes the image as an anti-communist statement to support freedom in Newport Beach.

Business improvement district member Gay Wassall-Kelly, who attended the meeting, said that no one told Fournier to remove the link. Trimble on Wednesday said that he never meant to tell Fournier what to do. He had simply been asked his opinion and gave it.

But for Clarkson and Fournier, the discussion by the business association members and particularly the comment by Trimble amount to bullying to the point of censorship by trying to get Fournier to remove the FreeNewport link.

"They are applying pressure on a private Web site not to link FreeNewport.com. It is none of their business as a city to regulate what private Web sites do on their own," Clarkson said. "The Internet has become one of the last sanctuaries for free speech in the country, and for free press, and it's unfortunate that the city of Newport Beach is trying to silence that free speech."

FreeNewport, best known for opposing the city's Fourth of July restrictions on drinking and gathering in West Newport, has been critical of a number of city policies and practices.

On Wednesday, Fournier's Tales of Balboa site contained the sudden and unexpected announcement that the site would shut down for "personal reasons."

Fournier would not say Wednesday whether the flap with the business improvement district was a factor in his decision.