City to Permit, but Not Aid, Creche

In an effort to head off controversy during the holiday season, the San Diego city attorney’s office has issued an opinion spelling out the conditions under which religious displays will be allowed on city land--and in particular Balboa Park--where erection of a Nativity scene prompted a much-publicized dispute last year.

The guidelines, which evolved from the legal dispute last Christmas season, permit the display of religious symbols in the park, but require that no city funds or city services be involved.

The new guidelines mark a change in a longstanding practice that allowed the use of city workers and city storage space for Nativity scenes and have forced San Diego’s Christmas Committee to appeal to the public for help. For the first time in its 42 years, the Christmas Committee is looking for donations to pay for electricity in Balboa Park and for a private benefactor with enough extra space to store the eight large sheds with paintings and figures depicting scenes from the life of Christ. The items are now stored on city property and will be placed in Balboa Park over the next several weeks. But, when the displays come down after Christmas, they may no longer be kept on city land.

‘Divorced Ourselves’

“We’ve separated all our funds from the city, we’ve incorporated and we have our own post office box,” said Paul Schmidt, an insurance salesman who heads the all-volunteer Christmas Committee. “We really divorced ourselves from the city per the guidelines. We’re trying to comply, and it’s been hard.”

Schmidt said the committee is seeking a safe storage area of at least 1,000 square feet for the scenes. “These figures are very, very fragile,” he said. The mannequins in the scenes are made of papier-mache and are coated with fiberglass, he said.

The committee also needs donations to maintain the exhibits, Schmidt said. “We just bought nine new reindeer that cost us $5,000, and that’s not chopped liver,” he said.

The new requirements are set out in an opinion adopted by City Atty. John Witt, who said the following four criteria must be met if a religious display is to be considered legal on public land:

* There may be absolutely no city financial aid or support.

* Disclaimer signs must be displayed prominently.

* The displays must be stored on private property.

* The Christmas Committee must obtain permits to erect and maintain the display.

Deputy City Atty. Mary Kay Jackson, who researched the case and wrote the opinion, said Wednesday it was “basically a free speech issue,” and added that she is confident that the guidelines can be defended against legal challenges.

However, it appears unlikely that any legal challenges will emerge this year.

The Jewish Community Relations Council, which last year raised questions about the city-sponsored Christian display, has no plans to object this year, according to Leslye Winkelman, the council’s director. “We discussed this at length throughout the year, and the feeling was to acquiesce in the city attorney’s opinion and hope that the Christmas Committee plans to make the display multicultural,” Winkelman said. The council is not, however, working with the Christmas Committee on the holiday display, she added.

Schmidt said Wednesday that the committee’s display would include secular decorations, such as the reindeer, as well as the Christian symbols, but that the committee had no plans to use symbols of non-Christian religions. He said committee members have contacted representatives of Jewish groups as well as other religions and none is interested in participating. Some may apply to the city for permits to put up their own holiday displays, which will be subject to the same guidelines, he said.

Charles Ballenger, president of the San Diego chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Wednesday that his group, which has about 900 members in San Diego County, will not object to the Christmas Committee’s plans.

Ballenger said the guidelines are sufficient “for the time being” and added, “We’re going to not respond during this Christmas season. We’re going to see what happens, and we’re certainly not going to do anything before the holidays.”

Ballenger said his group differs from atheist groups in that “we encourage Christian churches throughout the community to put up their own Nativity scenes. With several hundred thousand Christian adherents in San Diego, there really is no need for the city to get involved in any way.”