ABSTRACT
The Golden Gateway Center is a retail and residential complex made up of 1254 apartments. The development, which is protected by doormen and roving security patrols, includes four high-rise buildings and a group of townhouses located in downtown San Francisco. Since 1982, the Golden Gateway Tenants Association has distributed a newsletter to all residents. In the early 1990s, however, the building management challenged this practice. Under threat of litigation, it backed down and accepted the newsletter, stipulating that it be distributed in “a reasonable manner.” The conflict reemerged in 1996 when the Tenants Association stepped up its activities in response to the policies of a new building manager. Management retaliated, revising the building standards to prohibit all leafletting (except information placed on laundry room bulletin boards) and sought the help of the court to enforce this ban. On August 30, 2001, after over five years of litigation, the California State Supreme Court decided that the management’s action did not violate the tenants’ right to free speech.
