Full opinion text
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM C. CONNER, Senior District Judge: Plaintiff Reverend Alexandra Coe brings suit against defendants Town of Blooming Grove (the “Town”) and Village of Wash-ingtonville (the “Village”), pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of her First Amendment rights. The dispute arises out of plaintiffs attempt to obtain a permit to hold a peace rally in the Village shortly before the federal elections of November 2006. Plaintiff ultimately succeeded in doing so, but only after filing suit in this Court. Plaintiff claims that the delay caused by the need for court intervention limited her ability to publicize the rally beforehand, which depressed turnout. Plaintiff now moves for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56, seeking a ruling that defendants’ permit requirements in effect at the time of her application, as well as subsequent amendments to those requirements, are unconstitutional. Plaintiff also seeks damages. Defendants move for dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Crv. P. 12(b)(6) arguing, inter alia, that plaintiffs claims are moot because defendants have amended their statutes to remedy any constitutional defects that may once have existed. For the following reasons, each motion is granted in part and denied in part. BACKGROUND I. Facts Plaintiff is an ordained minister and peace activist residing in the Village, which is a municipality located within the Town. (Bergstein Affm, Ex. 1. ¶ 1.) Plaintiff sought to hold a peace rally on the Moffat Library lawn (the “Lawn”), a Town-owned property located in the Village, on November 4, 2006. (Id. ¶ 2.) She hoped to attract between forty and seventy-five people, and the event was to feature public speakers. (Id.) On September 25, 2006, plaintiff spoke with an official of the Village about the requirements for holding a rally; that official gave her a permit application (for which plaintiff paid $100) and told her to contact the Town Supervisor. (Id. ¶¶ 2-4.) The Town Supervisor informed plaintiff that the Town Code required her to purchase an insurance policy in order to hold a rally. (Id. ¶ 3.) Plaintiff, who is “unemployed and [has] very limited income,” did not believe she could afford the premium on the required insurance policy. (Id. ¶ 5.) The relevant Town Code provision in effect at the time required permit applicants to purchase insurance coverage in the amount of one million dollars “or an amount approved by the Town,” (id., Ex. 2); Blooming GROve, N.Y.Code § 165-4 (1993); the record does not indicate whether the Town Supervisor told plaintiff the amount of coverage that would be required for her event. Plaintiff asked the Town Supervisor if he would be willing to waive the insurance requirement, and he responded: “absolutely not.” (Bergstein AffmEx. 1¶5.) Plaintiff then brought suit in this Court and sought a preliminary injunction requiring the Town Board to issue her a permit. At a Show Cause Hearing on October 25, 2006, the Court instructed plaintiff to apply for a permit and instructed the Town Board to rule on her application within five days, notwithstanding plaintiffs inability to obtain insurance. On October 30, the Town granted plaintiffs permit request. (Id. ¶ 6.) The rally took place on November 4, and fewer than ten people attended. (Id.) Plaintiff attributes the disappointing turnout to the limited amount of time she had to publicize the rally, which was a result of the fact that she needed to seek court intervention to obtain a permit. (Id.) II. Procedural History Plaintiff subsequently moved for an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988, which the Court denied without prejudice. See Coe v. Town of Blooming Grove, 2007 WL 1771562, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44566 (S.D.N.Y. June 18, 2007) (Conner, J.). While that motion was pending, plaintiff also moved for summary judgment. The motion for summary judgment was held in abeyance beginning February 21, 2007 to allow defendants an opportunity to amend their local laws to address plaintiffs concerns. The Town did so on February 26, 2007 (Gailey Aff'm, Ex. B at 6), and the Village followed on May 7, 2007. (Id., Ex. C at 6.) (the “2007 Amendments”). Plaintiff believed that the amended statutes were unconstitutional in several respects and filed a Second Amended Complaint challenging them. Defendants responded with the present motion to dismiss, and plaintiff in turn filed a renewed motion for summary judgment, followed by a Third Amended Complaint. At a settlement conference held on December 14, 2007, defense counsel relayed defendants’ willingness to amend their local laws once again to address plaintiffs remaining concerns. Although a settlement was not achieved at the conference, and plaintiffs counsel made clear that further amendment of defendants’ local laws was unlikely to lead to one, defendants nevertheless amended their statutes in March 2008 (the “2008 Amendments”). Plaintiff responded by filing a Fourth Amended Complaint. III. The Relevant Statutory Provisions Plaintiff challenges several provisions of the Town and Village Codes in effect at the time she applied for a permit (the “Original” Statutes or Codes), as well as some of the 2007 and 2008 Amendments. Defendants argue that the 2008 Amendments, which are designed to remedy the alleged constitutional shortcomings of the Original Statutes and the 2007 Amendments, make plaintiffs challenges to those earlier versions of the statutes moot. As discussed below, the Court finds that plaintiff has a viable claim for at least nominal damages based on the Town’s Original insurance requirement (section 165-4 of the Original Town Code) and the Town’s designation (in section 221-9 of its 2007 Amendments) of the Lawn as “not a traditional public forum.” All other challenges to repealed provisions of the Original Codes and 2007 Amendments are dismissed as moot. A. Challenged Town Code Provisions Section 165-2 of the Original Town Code requires “[t]he applicant and any and all persons using the facilities ... to indemnify and hold harmless the Town of Blooming Grove for all claims, damages, expenses, costs, etc., including, without limitation, those resulting from the negligence of the town, if any.” Blooming Grove, N.Y.Code § 165-2 (1993). Section 165-3 makes the user “responsible for any damage to the facilities resulting from use under this chapter,” makes the user responsible for cleaning up the facility after the event and requires the applicant to submit a refundable damage and clean-up deposit. Section 165-4 states: “The applicant agrees to provide insurance naming the town as an additional insured in the amount of $1,000,000 or an amount approved by the Town of Blooming Grove (a certificate of insurance must accompany the application).” Plaintiff argues that the Original Town Code is unconstitutional in that it: does not provide objective criteria for the Board to consider in evaluating an application (4th Am. Complt. ¶ 12); does not provide criteria for granting a fee waiver (id. ¶ 13); does not provide criteria by which the Board may adjust the amount of insurance coverage required (id. ¶ 14); and does not exempt indigent applicants from the insurance requirement. (Id. ¶ 16.) On February 26, 2007, the Town rescinded its Original Code and enacted its 2007 Amendments. Those amendments provide ten objective criteria for the Town Board to consider in reviewing a permit application. See Blooming Grove, N.Y.Code § 221-10(A) (2007). Plaintiff maintains that the 2007 Amendments are nevertheless unconstitutional because they: limit permits to “bonafide non-profit group[s]” or persons without providing objective factors for determining whether a group is a “bonafide non-profit” (4th Am. Complt. ¶¶ 21-22); require users to cover all cleanup costs regardless of fault and without an exemption for indigent persons (id. ¶ 24); impose an application fee without an indigency exemption and without providing any objective factors to guide the Town Board in waiving or adjusting the fee (id. ¶¶ 25-26); designate the Lawn as “not a traditional public forum” (id. ¶¶ 27-28); allow for appeals of permit denials without providing objective criteria to guide the appellate review (id. ¶ 29); and do not exempt small groups from the permit requirement. (Id. ¶ 31.) The Town Board passed its 2008 Amendments on March 10, 2008. (3/19/08 Letter from J. Benjamin Gailey, Esq., attorney for defendants, to the Court.) These amendments eliminate the term “bonafide,” Blooming GROVE, N.Y.Code § 221-1 (2008); limit the applicant’s responsibility for damage and cleanup costs to damage “caused by the applicant or the applicant’s group,” id. § 221-4; exempt indigent applicants from the permit fee requirement, id. § 221-8; eliminate the statement that the Lawn is “not a traditional public forum,” id. § 221-9; and provide that, in ruling on the appeal of a permit denial, the Town Board shall consider only the objective permit-denial standards contained elsewhere in the Code. Id. § 221-11. In response to the 2008 Amendments, plaintiff sought and was granted leave to file a Fourth Amended Complaint. In it, she alleges that the Town Code as amended in 2008 is unconstitutional for several reasons. Plaintiff first takes issue with section 221-1, which requires applicants seeking to use Town property for a “First Amendment purpose” to apply for a permit at least five days ahead of time. Blooming GROve, N.Y.Code § 221-1 (2008). The section provides further that “if the applicant demonstrates that a shorter time period for decision is necessary due to the time-sensitive nature of the intended use or event ... then the Town Board shall hold a special meeting in order to act on the application.” Id. Plaintiff argues that this provision is unconstitutional because it gives Town officials discretion to determine whether an event is “time-sensitive” and therefore entitled to an exemption from the five-day advance-notice requirement. (4th Am. Complt. ¶ 35; 3/26/08 Letter from Stephen Bergstein, Esq., attorney for plaintiff, to the Court.) Plaintiff challenges section 221-11, which provides for expedited appeal of a permit denial upon a showing that the planned use is “time-sensitive,” on the same ground. (4th Am. Complt. ¶ 35.) In her Third Amended Complaint plaintiff objected to section 221-1’s limitation of permit eligibility to “bona fide non-profit groups” on the ground that it gives the Town discretion to decide whether a group is actually a “bona fide” non-profit. The Town, through the 2008 Amendments, removed the words “bona fide.” See Blooming Grove, N.Y.Code § 221-1 (2008). Plaintiff responded by arguing for the first time that it is unconstitutional for the Town to prohibit “for-profit” speech in its public forums. (See 4th Am. Complt. ¶ 38.) Plaintiff also argues that the “community purpose” provision of section 221-1 is unconstitutionally vague and discretionary. (See id. ¶ 37.) Plaintiff also challenges section 221-9 of the 2008 Town Code, which states that “[u]se of Town-owned traditional public forums for First Amendment activity is permitted pursuant to this Chapter.... Town-owned streets, sidewalks and parks are deemed traditional public forums.” Blooming Grove, N.Y.Code § 221-9 (2008). Plaintiff claims that this provision will be confusing to non-lawyers and may indicate an intention on the part of the Town to unlawfully prohibit First Amendment activity in “designated” and “limited” public forums. (See 4th Am. Complt. ¶ 39.) The result of the 2007 and 2008 Amendments is that the Town Code now contains the following features plaintiff claims are unconstitutional: the lack of an exception to the permit requirement for small groups; the Town’s alleged discretion to vary the permit fee on a case-by-case basis; the Town’s discretion to expedite permit applications and appeals; the limitation of permits to “non-profit” or “community” events; and section 221-9’s list of traditional public forums. B. Challenged Village Code Provisions Plaintiff claims that section 125-20 of the Original Village Code is unconstitutional because it allows the Village Board to waive the permit requirement but does not provide neutral criteria to limit that discretion. (Mini 44-45.) On May 7, 2007 the Village passed its 2007 Amendments, which provide a set of objective criteria for Village officials to consider in ruling on a permit request. Washingtonville, N.Y.Code § 125-20 (2007). Plaintiff alleges, however, that the Village Code’s 2007 Amendments are still unconstitutional because they: impose a permit application fee but do not provide an indigency exemption or objective criteria to prevent the Village Board from “imposing a fee on the basis of content” (4th Am. Complt. ¶ 48); make the user responsible for cleanup costs regardless of fault and without an indigency exemption {id. ¶¶ 50-51); impose a $1 million insurance policy requirement (for certain events) without an indigency exemption {id. ¶¶ 52-53); and require the user to indemnify the Village for any claims “resulting from” the event. {Id. ¶ 54.) On March 3, 2008, the Village Board of Trustees passed the 2008 Amendments to the Village Code. These amendments: exempt indigent-applicants from the permit-fee requirement, Washingtonville, N.Y.Code § 125-19(c) (2008); provide that the applicant shall be responsible for damage “caused by the applicant or applicant’s group,” id. § 125-22; limit indemnification to claims “caused directly by” the applicant or the applicant’s group, id. § 125-26; and exempt indigent applicants from the indemnification requirement when they “use[ ] Village property outside of a building for a First Amendment purpose.” Id. Plaintiff brings several challenges to the 2008 Village Amendments. Section 125-10 requires permit applications to be submitted at least five days before the planned event, but provides that “if the applicant demonstrates that a shorter time period for decision is necessary due to the time-sensitive nature of the intended use or event, then the Board of Trustees shall hold a special meeting in order to act on the application.” Id. § 125-10. As with section 221-1 of the Town Code, plaintiff argues that this gives local officials impermissible discretion to decide whether a proposed event is “time sensitive.” {See 4th Am. Complt. ¶ 58.) Plaintiff argues that section 125-21 of the 2008 Village Code, which provides for expedited appeal of a permit denial upon a showing that the event is “time sensitive,” is unconstitutional for the same reason. {See id.) Plaintiff argues that Village Code section 125-10’s provision limiting permits to groups or persons seeking to use Village property for a “non-profit or community purpose” is unconstitutional because it excludes for-profit speech from public forums and gives Village officials discretion to determine whether a proposed event serves a “community purpose.” {Id. ¶¶ 59-60.) With the 2008 Amendments in place, the Village Code contains the following provisions that plaintiff claims are unconstitutional: the alleged discretion Village officials have to vary permit fees on a case-by-case basis; the limited nature of the indi-gency exemption to the insurance requirement; the discretion Village officials have to expedite permit applications and appeals; the limitation of permits to “nonprofit” events; and the discretion Village officials have to determine whether a proposed event serves a “community purpose.” DISCUSSION I. Standard of Review On a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), a court must accept as true all of the well-pleaded facts and consider those facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974), overruled on other grounds, Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183, 104 S.Ct. 3012, 82 L.Ed.2d 139 (1984); Nechis v. Oxford Health Plans, Inc., 421 F.3d 96, 100 (2d Cir.2005). “The plaintiffs factual allegations must be enough to give the defendant fair notice of what the claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Port Dock & Stone Corp. v. Oldcastle Northeast, Inc., 507 F.3d 117, 121 (2d Cir.2007) (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, — U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1964-65, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). Allegations that are so eonclusory that they fail to give notice of the basic events and circumstances about which the plaintiff complains are insufficient as a matter of law. See Martin v. N.Y. State Dep’t of Mental Hygiene, 588 F.2d 371, 372 (2d Cir.1978). The Court may consider the facts alleged in the complaint as well as any document attached as an exhibit to the complaint or incorporated by reference. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(c); Dangler v. N.Y. City Off Track Betting Corp., 193 F.3d 130, 138 (2d Cir.1999); De Jesus v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 87 F.3d 65, 69 (2d Cir.1996). Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue of material fact and one party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The Court must resolve all ambiguity in favor of the non-moving party and draw every permissible factual inference in that party’s favor. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505. The burden is on the movant to demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “In moving for summary judgment against a party who will bear the ultimate burden of proof at trial, the movant’s burden will be satisfied if he can point to an absence of evidence to support an essential element of the nonmoving party’s claim.” Goenaga v. March of Dimes Birth Defects Found., 51 F.3d 14, 18 (2d Cir.1995). When the mov-ant has met that burden, “its opponent must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts. In the language of the Rule, the nonmoving party must come forward with ‘specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P 56(e)) (citations omitted) (emphasis in original). II. Standing . To have standing, a plaintiff must meet several requirements. First, she must “have suffered ‘an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.’ ” Latino Officers Ass’n v. Safir, 170 F.3d 167, 170 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)). Second, the plaintiff must show that the injury was caused by the challenged activity of the defendant. Id. Finally, the plaintiff must demonstrate that “the injury is apt to be redressed by a remedy the court is prepared to give.” Id. The requirement of standing means that, ordinarily, a plaintiff cannot “rest his claim to relief on the legal rights or interest of third parties.” Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). But this rule is relaxed in the First Amendment context where a plaintiff alleges that a statute is substantially overbroad. See Lerman v. Bd. of Elections, 232 F.3d 135, 144 (2d Cir.2000). Under the overbreadth doctrine, a plaintiff may challenge a statute so long as there is “ ‘a substantial risk that application of the provision will lead to the suppression of speech.’ ” Id. (quoting Nat’l Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, 524 U.S. 569, 580, 118 S.Ct. 2168, 141 L.Ed.2d 500 (1998)). This allows the plaintiff to assert the rights of third parties who are not before the court, id., even if the plaintiffs conduct could lawfully “ ‘be regulated by a statute drawn with the requisite narrow specificity.’” Sec’y of Md. v. Joseph H. Munson Co., 467 U.S. 947, 957, 104 S.Ct. 2839, 81 L.Ed.2d 786 (1984) (quoting Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 612, 93 S.Ct. 2908, 37 L.Ed.2d 830 (1973)). The overbreadth doctrine is based on the concern that an overbroad statute’s “very existence may cause others not before the court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or expression.” Broadrick, 413 U.S. at 612, 93 S.Ct. 2908. For a court to entertain an overbreadth challenge, there must be “a realistic danger that the statute ... will significantly compromise recognized First Amendment protections of parties not before the Court.” Members of City Council v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U.S. 789, 801, 104 S.Ct. 2118, 80 L.Ed.2d 772 (1984). In the present case, most of the provisions of the Town and Village Codes that plaintiff challenges have never actually been applied to her, nor has plaintiff attempted to show that their potential application has chilled her First Amendment activity. The only exceptions are the Original Town Code’s insurance requirement, which deterred plaintiff from applying for a permit in the fall of 2006, and the Town’s designation (via its 2007 Amendments, subsequently repealed by the 2008 Amendments) of the Lawn as “not a traditional public forum,” which plaintiff claims deterred her from applying for a permit to use that property. Plaintiffs standing to challenge any other provision of defendants’ Codes must be based on over-breadth. We find that plaintiff has standing to pursue all of her challenges to the Town and Village Codes except for one: the provisions limiting permits to “a non-profit group or person who seeks to use Town [Village] property or facilities for a legal use and for a non-profit or community purpose.” Blooming GrOve, N.Y.Code § 221-1 (2008); Washingtonville, N.Y.Code § 125-10 (2008). Plaintiff claims that these provisions are unconstitutional for two reasons: they exclude for-profit First Amendment activity from public forums; and they give Town and Village officials unlawful discretion to determine whether a proposed event serves a “community purpose.” (See 4th Am. Complt. ¶¶ 37-38, 59-60.) It is well established that the First Amendment overbreadth doctrine does not apply to regulations of commercial speech. See, e.g., Waters v. Churchill, 511 U.S. 661, 670, 114 S.Ct. 1878, 128 L.Ed.2d 686 (1994); Vill. of Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc., 455 U.S. 489, 496-497, 102 S.Ct. 1186, 71 L.Ed.2d 362 (1982); Allstate Ins. Co. v. Serio, 261 F.3d 143, 153 n. 16 (2d Cir.2001). The reason for this limitation is that “Commercial speech is not as likely to be deterred as noncommercial speech, and therefore does not require the added protection afforded by the overbreadth approach.” Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass’n, 436 U.S. 447, 463 n. 20, 98 S.Ct. 1912, 56 L.Ed.2d 444 (1978). “[Commercial speech is more hardy, less likely to be ‘chilled,’ and not in need of surrogate litigators.” Bd. of Trs. of S.U.N.Y. v. Fox, 492 U.S. 469, 481, 109 S.Ct. 3028, 106 L.Ed.2d 388 (1989). Plaintiff is an individual and does not claim to represent a for-profit group. She has not expressed any intention of organizing an event featuring for-profit or commercial speech. This makes any possibility that the “non-profit” provisions of the Town and Village Codes will affect her First Amendment rights purely “conjectural.” Latino Officers Ass’n, 170 F.3d at 170. Therefore, plaintiff does not have standing to challenge these provisions. Both section 221-1 of the Town Code and section 125-10 of the Village Code limit permit eligibility to persons or groups who seek to use Town or Village property for “a non-profit or community purpose.” By their terms, the statutes exempt non-profit speech from the “community purpose” test; it is only for-profit speech that must meet this requirement. Because she does not have standing to challenge the restrictions on for-profit speech, plaintiff also lacks standing to challenge the “community purpose” requirement, since that provision applies only to for-profit speech. III. Mootness Defendants urge the Court to dismiss plaintiffs challenges to the Original Town and Village Codes and 2007 Amendments as moot because, in their view, the 2008 Amendments removed any unconstitutional provisions in these earlier versions of the statutes. Plaintiff asks the Court to rule on the constitutionality of the now-repealed provisions she has challenged because, absent a ruling that those provisions are unconstitutional, defendants will be free to repeal the 2008 Amendments and re-enact an earlier version of their local laws. A. Plaintiffs Claim for Equitable Relief Based on Repealed Provisions is Moot An action is moot “when the parties have no ‘legally cognizable interest’ or practical ‘personal stake’ in the dispute, and the court is therefore incapable of granting a judgment that will affect the legal rights as between the parties.” ABN Amro Verzekeringen BV v. Geologistics Americas, Inc., 485 F.3d 85, 94 (2d Cir.2007) (quoting Davis v. New York, 316 F.3d 93, 99 (2d Cir.2002)). The mootness doctrine is derived from Article III of the United States Constitution, which provides that federal courts may decide only live cases or controversies. Irish Lesbian & Gay Org. v. Giuliani, 143 F.3d 638, 647 (2d Cir.1998). Ordinarily, a defendant’s voluntary cessation of his allegedly wrongful conduct will not moot a case unless it is “absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur.” United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Ass’n, 393 U.S. 199, 203, 89 S.Ct. 361, 21 L.Ed.2d 344 (1968); see also Adarand Constructors v. Slater, 528 U.S. 216, 222, 120 S.Ct. 722, 145 L.Ed.2d 650 (2000); Irish Lesbian & Gay Org., 143 F.3d at 647. Otherwise, “the courts would be compelled to leave [the] defendant ... free to return to his old ways.” City of Mesquite v. Aladdin’s Castle, Inc., 455 U.S. 283, 289 n. 10, 102 S.Ct. 1070, 71 L.Ed.2d 152 (1982) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted; alterations in the original). A different standard applies, however, where the defendant is a government entity that has repealed or amended an allegedly unconstitutional statute. In such cases, courts “routinely” find constitutional challenges to the original version of the statute moot. Harrison & Burrowes Bridge Constructors, Inc. v. Cuomo, 981 F.2d 50, 61 (2d Cir.1992); see also Lamar Adver. of Penn, LLC v. Town of Orchard Park, 356 F.3d 365, 375 (2d Cir.2004); Granite State Outdoor Adver., Inc. v. Town of Orange, 303 F.3d 450, 451-52 (2d Cir.2002). A legislature’s representation that it has discontinued a practice is entitled to deference from the courts. Lamar Adver., 356 F.3d at 376 (quoting Harrison & Burrowes, 981 F.2d at 59); Granite State, 303 F.3d at 451-52 (“[T]here is no reason to think that, having completely revised its regulations through proper procedures, the Town has any intention of returning to the prior regulatory regime.”); Associated Gen. Contractors of Conn., Inc. v. City of New Haven, 41 F.3d 62, 65-67 (2d Cir.1994). And the Second Circuit has made clear that such deference is “the rule, not the exception.” Lamar Adver., 356 F.3d at 377. Here, defendants have amended their Codes twice since this action began. There is no reason to believe that these amendments represent anything other than a good-faith effort on the part of defendants to bring their local laws into compliance with the requirements of the First Amendment and stave off further litigation. Prior to the enactment of both the 2007 and 2008 Amendments, defense counsel submitted drafts of the proposed amendments to plaintiff’s counsel for the latter’s review and input. (See 3/19/08 Letters from J. Benjamin Gailey to the Court.) In the case of the 2008 Amendments, plaintiffs counsel made several substantive suggestions, most of which defendants adopted. (See id.) There is no indication whatever that the amendments were an eleventh-hour attempt to evade judicial review of any challenged provision, see, e.g., Yassky v. Kings County Democratic County Comm., 259 F.Supp.2d 210, 215 (E.D.N.Y.2003), or that defendants have any intention of reinstating the Original Codes or the 2007 Amendments. See, e.g., Aladdin’s Castle, 455 U.S. at 289 & n. 11, 102 S.Ct. 1070. Therefore, plaintiffs claim for equitable relief based on the repealed provisions of the Original Codes and 2007 Amendments is moot because the Court finds no reason to believe that defendants will reinstate any of those provisions. B. Plaintiff’s Claims for Damages Are Not Moot Plaintiffs claims for compensatory and nominal damages based on the “Town Board’s delayed approval of her permit application in October-November 2006” and plaintiffs alleged inability to stage a peace rally at the Lawn “during the time that Town law § 221-9 expressly prohibited public assemblies at that location” (4th Am. Complt., Prayer for Relief ¶¶ d, e) are not moot. A defendant’s change in conduct does not moot a case if the plaintiff has stated a claim for damages. Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep’t of Health & Human Res., 532 U.S. 598, 609, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001); Ellis v. Bhd. of Ry., Airline & S.S. Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express & Station Employees, 466 U.S. 435, 442, 104 S.Ct. 1883, 80 L.Ed.2d 428 (1984) (“The amount at issue is undeniably minute. But as long as the parties have a concrete interest, however small, in the outcome of the litigation, the case is not moot.”); Van Wie v. Pataki, 267 F.3d 109, 115 n. 4 (2d Cir.2001). Even a claim for nominal damages is sufficient to prevent mootness. See Price v. N.Y. State Bd. of Elections, 2007 WL 3104327, at *1, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78277, at *2 (N.D.N.Y. Oct. 22, 2007); Sugarman v. Vill. of Chester, 192 F.Supp.2d 282, 290 (S.D.N.Y.2002) (Conner, J.). The record reveals that plaintiff was damaged by her difficulty in securing a permit in the fall of 2006. She alleges that the delay, which the Town caused by seeking to enforce its unconstitutional insurance requirement, “significantly hampered [her] ability to organize and publicize” the rally (4th Am. Complt. ¶ 19), thus depressing turnout and limiting the effectiveness with which she was able to promote her message and engage in First Amendment association. Although defendants attempt to dismiss this as “speculation,” it seems obvious that reducing the amount of time one has to plan and promote an event, and creating uncertainty as to whether the event will occur at all, can be expected to decrease turnout and make the event less successful and effective in promoting its message. Thus, plaintiffs declaration that the delay in obtaining a permit hurt turnout—an assertion that is not effectively contradicted and that we have no reason to doubt—shows that the insurance requirement significantly interfered with plaintiffs exercise of her First Amendment rights, giving rise to a claim for damages. See, e.g., Knoeffler v. Team of Mamakating, 87 F.Supp.2d 322, 327-28 (S.D.N.Y.2000) (Conner, J.) (“The denial of First Amendment rights, or ‘of a particular opportunity to express one’s views,’ can give rise to a compensable injury.”) (quoting Irish Lesbian & Gay Org., 143 F.3d at 649). Plaintiff also claims to have been damaged by the 2007 Town Amendments’ designation of the Lawn as “not a traditional public forum,” in that this deterred her from exercising her First Amendment rights there. {See 4th Am. Complt. ¶ 40.) As discussed below, we find that the Lawn is a traditional public forum. By alleging that the Town’s unlawful attempt to prohibit First Amendment activity in a traditional public forum deterred her from exercising her First Amendment rights, plaintiff has stated a claim for nominal damages. There is no indication in the Fourth Amended Complaint, in plaintiffs moving papers or anywhere in the record that any provision of either defendants’ laws other than the Original Town Code’s insurance requirement and the 2007 Town Code’s designation of the Lawn as “not a traditional public forum” contributed to plaintiffs injuries. There is no allegation that any of the other challenged provisions were enforced against plaintiff, contributed to her difficulty in obtaining a permit in the fall of 2006 or deterred her from applying for a permit or otherwise exercising her First Amendment rights on any other occasion. The other challenged provisions did not contribute to plaintiffs claims for damages and therefore could support only equitable relief. But, as discussed above, plaintiffs claim for equitable relief based on the repealed provisions is moot, and so the challenges to all other repealed provisions are dismissed. IV. Is the Lawn a Traditional Public Forum? We first consider whether the Lawn is a traditional public forum. Plaintiff argues that it is; defendants maintain that it is not. Governmental restrictions of speech in a non-public forum are constitutional as long as they are reasonable and do not represent an attempt by the government to suppress speech with which it disagrees. See Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Def. & Educ. Fund, Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 800, 105 S.Ct. 3439, 87 L.Ed.2d 567 (1985). If, as plaintiff argues, the Lawn is a traditional public forum, restrictions on speech taking place there will be valid only if they are content-neutral regulations of the time, manner and place of speech; are narrowly tailored to an important governmental interest and leave open alternative channels of communication. See Deegan v. City of Ithaca, 444 F.3d 135, 142 (2d Cir.2006) (citing Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 791, 109 S.Ct. 2746, 105 L.Ed.2d 661 (1989)). The Second Circuit has identified several factors to be considered in determining whether a government-owned property is a traditional public forum. The “ ‘primary factor’ ” is “ ‘how the locale is used.’ ” Hotel Employees & Rest. Employees Union, Local 100 v. City of N.Y. Dep’t of Parks & Recreation, 311 F.3d 534, 547 (2d Cir.2002) (quoting Int’l Soc’y for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. N.J. Sports & Exposition Auth., 691 F.2d 155, 160 (3d Cir.1982)). Additional considerations are “the forum’s physical characteristics and the context of the property’s use, including its location and purpose.” Id. at 547. The government’s intent in creating the forum and its need to control expressive activity taking place there, as shown by its policies and regulations, are factors as well. Id. Also relevant is “whether the property in question ‘is part of a class of property which by history or tradition has been open and used for expressive activity.’ ” Id. (quoting Warren v. Fairfax County, 196 F.3d 186, 190 (4th Cir.1999)). Based on these considerations, we find that the Lawn is a traditional public forum. A. The Lawn Has the Physical Characteristics of a Public Park Traditional public forums are places that “by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate.” Perry Educ. Ass’n v. Perry Local Educators’ Ass’n, 460 U.S. 37, 45, 103 S.Ct. 948, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983). Public streets and parks, which “ ‘have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public, and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions’ ” fall into this category. Id. (quoting Hague v. Comm. for Indus. Org., 307 U.S. 496, 515, 59 S.Ct. 954, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (1939)). In fact, the Supreme Court has described public parks as “the quintessential public forums,” Perry, 460 U.S. at 45, 103 S.Ct. 948, and the Second Circuit has called the public park one of “the classic examples” of the traditional public forum. Hotel Employees, 311 F.3d at 544. Plaintiff describes the Lawn as a “public park.” (PL Mem. Supp. Summ. J. at 8.) She argues that the Lawn is a traditional public forum because it is an open public thoroughfare.... Surrounded by sidewalks and featuring war memorials and public space to accommodate public assemblies, this unenclosed park invites the public for quiet reflection and vocal commemorations. At one of [the Town’s] busiest intersections, this park is comparable to a public square. Not only does this park possess the physical attributes of a public forum, but [it] ... has traditionally been used for public events, particularly Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day commemorations .... The presence of war memorial tablets confirms this community intended the park as a gathering place. (Id. at 8-10 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).) Defendants do not dispute this description of the Lawn’s physical characteristics, other than the denomination of the Lawn as a “thoroughfare.” (See Defs. Reply Mem. at 11-14.) Instead, they argue that these characteristics do not make the Lawn a park for First Amendment purposes. (See id.) Defendants resist the public-forum designation on the grounds that the Lawn has never “been devoted to assembly and debate” and has been subject to only “occasional, selective use on Memorial Day or Veteran[s’] Day.” (Id. at 12-13.) Defendants note that these Memorial and Veterans’ Day commemorations amount to only “ten occasions over a sixty-nine year period.” (Id. at 11.) We agree with plaintiff that the Lawn’s physical characteristics are consistent with those of a park, a traditional public forum. The property is a small but open grassy area in a prominent location in the Village. (See Bergstein Affm, Ex. 4 (color photographs of the Lawn).) The Lawn is open to the public and is located between a sidewalk — another “quintessential public forum[ ],” Perry, 460 U.S. at 45, 103 S.Ct. 948—and the local library, a public building. (See Bergstein Aff'm, Ex. 4.) Although the absence of walkways and benches may limit the extent to which members of the public enter or remain on the Lawn, the presence of war memorials indicates a desire to attract visitors. All of this convinces us that the Lawn is a public park for purposes of this decision, making it “part of a class of property which by history or tradition has been open and used for expressive activity.” Hotel Employees, 311 F.3d at 547 (internal quotation marks omitted). Although there is no dispute that, in the abstract at least, a park is a “quintessential public forum[ ],” Perry, 460 U.S. at 45, 103 S.Ct. 948, the Second Circuit has stopped short of holding that “a dedicated public park must necessarily qualify as a traditional public forum, without regard to the context of its location and use.” Hotel Employees, 311 F.3d at 548; cf. United States v. Kokinda, 497 U.S. 720, 727, 110 S.Ct. 3115, 111 L.Ed.2d 571 (1990) (“The sidewalk leading to the entry of the post office is not the traditional public forum sidewalk referred to in Perry.”). Further inquiry is therefore warranted. We agree with defendants that ten events in sixty-nine years is a rather limited level of public usage. (See Defs. Reply Mem. at 11.) The question, therefore, is whether property that has the physical characteristics of a public forum, and is suitable for public events, can be classified as non-public solely because it has been used only sporadically for public gatherings. B. The Lawn is a Suitable Forum for Public Expressive Events It is well established that property having the physical characteristics of a public forum can nevertheless be classified as non-public based on other considerations — in particular, the government’s interest in ensuring that the property is kept suitable for its intended use. “[T]he government — like other property owners— ‘has power to preserve the property under its control for the use to which it is lawfully dedicated...'" Int’l Soc’y for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee, 505 U.S. 672, 679-680, 112 S.Ct. 2701, 120 L.Ed.2d 541 (1992) (quoting Greer v. Spock, 424 U.S. 828, 836, 96 S.Ct. 1211, 47 L.Ed.2d 505 (1976)); see also Hotel Employees, 311 F.3d at 547 (stating that the government’s “need for controlling expressive activity on the property, as evidenced by its policies or regulations” is a factor in the public-forum inquiry). This is true even of places that would otherwise be “quintessential” public forums, such as sidewalks. See Kokinda, 497 U.S. at 727-30, 110 S.Ct. 3115 (holding that a- sidewalk located on U.S. Postal Service property was a non-public forum because it did not have “the characteristics of public sidewalks traditionally open to expressive activity”); Greer, 424 U.S. at 836-37, 96 S.Ct. 1211 (holding a military base to be a non-public forum despite the fact that parts of it were open to the public, including streets and sidewalks within the base). Cases classifying as “non public” government property that has at least some physical characteristics of a traditional public forum tend to involve a showing that public-forum status would significantly undermine the property’s intended purpose. Thus, in Greer the Court found that allowing political leafleting on a military base would conflict with that institution’s interests in training soldiers and avoiding the entanglement of the military with politics. See 424 U.S. at 837-39, 96 S.Ct. 1211. In Lee the Court ruled that forcing the government to allow widespread solicitation and sale of religious materials on public walkways in an airport terminal would interfere with the orderly and efficient transport of passengers. 505 U.S. at 682-83, 112 S.Ct. 2701. Where, on the other hand, the expressive activity at issue is not likely to undermine the purpose of the forum, the case for classifying the forum as non-public is much weaker. See, e.g., Paulsen v. County of Nassau, 925 F.2d 65, 71 (2d Cir.1991) (affirming the designation of the Nassau Coliseum, a state-owned property containing an 18,000-seat arena, as a public forum because “distributing handbills on the plaza and sidewalks is not likely ... to interfere with the mood or the quality of the Coliseum arena events”). Here, the fact that the Lawn has historically hosted only a fairly small number of expressive events does weigh in favor of non-public status. See Hotel Employees, 311 F.3d at 547. But that consideration is outweighed by the fact that opening the Lawn to plaintiffs expressive activity would not substantially interfere with the intended purpose of the property. Defendants have not identified any such conflict, and none is apparent' to the Court. We are not aware of any case holding, as defendants urge this Court to do, that a government-owned property that has the physical characteristics of a traditional public forum and is apparently suitable for public events was a non-public forum solely because past usage of the property for expressive events was too infrequent. And we decline to make such a ruling, because it would unfairly limit plaintiffs First Amendment rights based on the extent to which earlier generations of Town residents chose to exercise theirs. C. Defendants’ Intent Was Not Inconsistent With the Creation of a Public Forum The record does not contain any statement of governmental purpose or intent as to whether the Lawn is a public forum. Defendants point out that the Lawn has never officially been designated a public forum. (Defs. Mem. Supp. Mot. Dismiss at 6.) The 2007 Amendments to the Town Code designated the Lawn “not a traditional public forum,” see Blooming GROVE, N.Y.Code § 221-9 (2007), but, as part of its effort to settle this case, the Town removed that provision in its 2008 Amendments. See Blooming GROVE, N.Y.Code § 221-9 (2008). The lack of a statement of official purpose is of limited importance, however, since a government’s stated intention does not settle the inquiry. As the Second Circuit explained in Paulsen: “Intent is not merely a matter of stated purpose. Indeed, it must be inferred from a number of objective factors, including: [the government’s] policy and past practice, as well as the nature of the property and its compatibility with expressive activity.” 925 F.2d at 69. Therefore, in Paulsen, the county government’s “bare assertion that [it] did not mean to permit noncommercial speech on Coliseum grounds [was] not conclusive.” Id. Turning to the present case, the factors highlighted in Paulsen lead us to conclude that defendants did not clearly evince an intent to create the Lawn as a public forum. Defendants’ practice has been to sponsor (albeit only occasionally) expressive events there in the form of Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day commemorations. As discussed above, the Lawn is clearly park-like in nature, and there is no apparent reason not to consider it a park — a “quintessential” public forum — for purposes of this case. Finally, the record before us indicates that the Lawn is perfectly compatible with expressive activity, and defendants have not offered any meaningful reason to believe otherwise. We therefore conclude that the Lawn is a traditional public forum. V. The Town and Village Insurance Requirements A government regulation based on the content of speech is presumptively invalid and will be upheld only if it passes strict scrutiny, meaning that it must be necessary to advance a compelling governmental interest, “precisely tailored” to serve that interest and “the least restrictive means readily available” for advancing the government’s purpose. Mastrovincenzo v. City of New York, 485 F.3d 78, 98 n. 15 (2d Cir.2006) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). A regulation that is content neutral, however, need only survive intermediate scrutiny. Id. at 98. A content-neutral regulation of the time, place and manner of speech is valid, even applied to speech in a traditional public forum, if the regulation is “reasonable, ... narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and leave[s] open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.” Id. (internal quotations omitted); see also Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement, 505 U.S. 123, 130, 112 S.Ct. 2395, 120 L.Ed.2d 101 (1992). A regulation of expressive activity will be considered content neutral if “it is justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech” and “serves purposes unrelated to the content of expression,” even if the regulation “has an incidental effect on some speakers or messages but not others.” Mastrovincenzo, 435 F.3d at 98 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Therefore, a regulation that targets only the “potentially harmful secondary effects of speech” is content neutral and warrants only intermediate scrutiny. Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The requirement that a content-neutral time, manner or place regulation be narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest does not mean that the regulation must be the least restrictive means available for that purpose. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Instead, the narrow tailoring requirement is satisfied if the government’s purpose “would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted; emphasis in the original). “A content-neutral ‘time, place or manner’ restriction will be considered narrowly tailored unless ‘a substantial portion of the burden on speech does not serve to advance its goals.’ ” Id. (quoting Ward, 491 U.S. at 799, 109 S.Ct. 2746 (1989)). We first consider whether defendants’ insurance requirements are content neutral, and we conclude that they are. See id. The insurance requirements serve to protect defendants from financial liability arising from public events on their property. See, e.g., Urlaub v. Inc. Vill. of Bellport, 498 F.Supp.2d 614, 621 (E.D.N.Y.2007). This goal is related only to the “potentially harmful secondary effects of speech,” Mastrovincenzo, 435 F.3d at 98 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted), not to content. The insurance requirements are therefore facially content neutral, so the Court will apply intermediate scrutiny. See id. Plaintiff challenges two aspects of the Original Town insurance requirement: the lack of an exemption for indigent applicants; and the fact that the statute allows the Town Board to vary the amount of coverage required but does not provide any objective criteria to limit that discretion. (See 4th Am. Complt. ¶¶ 14, 16.) Plaintiff also challenges the lack of an indigency exemption in the Village’s insurance requirement. (See id. ¶¶ 52-53.) A. The Town’s Discretion to Vary the Amount of Coverage Required Supreme Court precedent indicates that this aspect of section 165-4 is unconstitutional. In Forsyth, the Forsyth, Georgia County Board of Commissioners had enacted an ordinance requiring every applicant for a public-assembly permit to “pay in advance for- such permit, for the use of the County, a sum not more than $1,000.00.” 505 U.S. at 126, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The county administrator had the authority to “adjust the amount to be paid in order to meet the expense incident to the administration of the Ordinance and to the maintenance of public order in the matter licensed.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The decision regarding the amount at which to set the fee for a given event, or whether to charge a fee at all, was left totally “to the whim of the administrator.” Id. at 132-33, 112 S.Ct. 2395. The Court held the ordinance to be unconstitutional. Id. at 137, 112 S.Ct. 2395. The Court acknowledged that the government may, consistent with the First Amendment, impose permit requirements on people wishing to hold rallies, parades and marches. See id. at 130, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (citing Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U.S. 569, 574-76, 61 S.Ct. 762, 85 L.Ed. 1049 (1941)). But a permit system must not “delegate overly broad licensing discretion to a government official.” Id.; see also Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147, 153, 89 S.Ct. 935, 22 L.Ed.2d 162 (1969). A permit scheme is a form of prior restraint on expressive activity, and therefore must contain “ ‘narrow, objective and definite standards to guide the licensing authority.’ ” Forsyth, 505 U.S. at 131, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (quoting Shuttlesworth, 394 U.S. at 150-51, 89 S.Ct. 935). Such standards are necessary because “[a] government regulation that allows arbitrary application is ‘inherently inconsistent with a valid time, place, and manner regulation because such discretion has the potential for becoming a means of suppressing a particular point of view.’ ” Id. at 130-31, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (quoting Heffron v. Int’l Soc’y for Krishna Consciousness, Inc., 452 U.S. 640, 649, 101 S.Ct. 2559, 69 L.Ed.2d 298 (1981)). The ordinance at issue in Forsyth did not contain the necessary standards to limit the county official’s discretion, so there was nothing to prevent the official from “encouraging some views and discouraging others through the arbitrary application of fees.” Id. at 133, 112 S.Ct. 2395. Section 165-4 of the Original Town Code is closely analogous to the ordinance held unconstitutional in Forsyth. Section 165-4 requires permit applicants to purchase insurance “in the amount of $1,000,000 or an amount approved by the Town.” The Town’s discretion to set the amount of coverage required is completely unlimited. As in Forsyth, there are no “narrowly drawn, reasonable and definite standards” that Town officials must follow, 505 U.S. at 133, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); in fact, there are no standards at all. This raises the unacceptable possibility that Town officials will seek to discourage speech with which they disagree by requiring a greater amount of insurance coverage than they would demand for an event featuring speech they find unobjectionable. Because it provides such unfettered discretion, section 165-4 is facially invalid. See id. at 137, 112 S.Ct. 2395; Thomas v. Chi. Park Dist., 534 U.S. 316, 322-23, 122 S.Ct. 775, 151 L.Ed.2d 783 (2002); Niemotko v. Maryland, 340 U.S. 268, 271, 71 S.Ct. 328, 95 L.Ed. 280 (1951); Burk v. Augusta-Richmond County, 365 F.3d 1247, 1256 (11th Cir.2004); Nationalist Movement v. City of York, 425 F.Supp.2d 574, 585 (M.D.Pa.2006) (“Without specific guidelines calculating the insurance and deposit requirements using content-neutral factors, thereby limiting the scope of the city officials’ discretion, these provisions contain the possibility of censorship through uncontrolled discretion.”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted), rev’d in part on other grounds, 481 F.3d 178 (3d Cir.2007); Rock Against Racism v. Ward, 658 F.Supp. 1346, 1356 (S.D.N.Y.1987) (“The lack of concrete, ascertainable standards to guide the Parks Department’s administration is fatal to this aspect of the Guide-fines, which is facially invalid.”), rev’d in part on other grounds, 848 F.2d 367 (2d Cir.1988); cf. Paulsen v. Gotbaum, 1992 WL 8361, at *7-8, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 396, at *21-22 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 15, 1992). B. The Town Insurance Requirement’s Lack of an Exemption for Indigent Applicants We first consider whether failing to provide an exemption for indigent applicants furthers a significant governmental interest. See Mastrovincenzo, 435 F.3d at 98. Although the parties have devoted little discussion in their briefs to this issue, we acknowledge that the Town has a significant interest in limiting its financial liability in the event an injury occurs at a public gathering on its property. See E. Conn. Citizens Action Group v. Powers, 723 F.2d 1050, 1056 (2d Cir.1983) (“[T]he state has a legitimate interest in protecting itself from liability for injuries associated with the use of its property.”); Wilson ex rel. U.S. Nationalist Party v. Castle, 1993 WL 276959, at *3, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9726, at *8 (E.D.Pa. July 16, 1993). However, we conclude that section 165^1 of the Original Town Code is not a narrowly tailored means of furthering that interest. The burden that the failure to exempt indigent persons from the insurance requirement places on the exercise of First Amendment rights is too great to justify whatever marginal benefit this provision confers on the Town. We can only speculate as to the nature and importance of that benefit, since defendants have not offered any justification for the lack of an indigency exemption. In contrast to whatever undefined benefit the lack of an indigency exemption may provide the Town, the burden it imposes on the First Amendment rights of plaintiff and others of limited financial means is real, severe and unacceptable. “Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion are available to all, not merely to those who can pay their own way.” Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105, 111, 63 S.Ct. 870, 87 L.Ed. 1292 (1943). Thus, while the government may operate a permit system to regulate competing uses of a public forum, see, e.g., Thomas, 534 U.S. at 322-23, 122 S.Ct. 775, courts have not hesitated to strike down regulations that impose prohibitive financial costs on the exercise of First Amendment rights. See Santa Monica Food Not Bombs v. City of Santa Monica, 450 F.3d 1022, 1052 (9th Cir.2006); E. Conn. Citizens, 723 F.2d at 1056-57; Van Arnam v. GSA, 332 F.Supp.2d 376, 406 (D.Mass.2004) (“[I]n virtually all such cases, the courts have concluded that the [permit fee] requirement was unconstitutional as applied to the plaintiff unable to pay.”); MacDonald v. Chi. Park Dist., 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7416, at *19 (N.D.Ill. Mar. 9, 1999); Toback v. Safir, 1996 WL 596516, at *2-3, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15271, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 17, 1996); Pritchard v. Mackie, 811 F.Supp. 665, 668 (S.D.Fla.1993); Wilson, 1993 WL 276959, at *4, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9726, at *10; Paulsen, 1992 WL 8361, at *6, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 396, at *16; Invisible Empire of Knights of Ku Klux Klan v. Mayor, 700 F.Supp. 281, 285-86 (D.Md.1988); Invisible Empire Knights of Ku Klux Klan v. West Haven, 600 F.Supp. 1427, 1435 (D.Conn.1985) (“It has been well established in recent years that the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights cannot be conditioned upon an individual’s wealth.”). Specifically, several courts, including the Second Circuit, have held insurance requirements like those involved here unconstitutional as applied to persons who could not afford the premium. The Second Circuit addressed the issue in Eastern Connecticut Citizens. That case involved an advocacy group, ECCAG, that wanted to hold a march along an abandoned railway bed for the purposes of promoting public transportation and opposing the construction of a new highway. E. Conn. Citizens, 723 F.2d at 1052. The railway bed was owned by the state, which required the group to obtain a permit for its march. Id. The state conditioned the permit on, inter alia, the group’s purchasing a $75,000 insurance policy naming the state as a co-insured. Id. ECCAG argued that this requirement was either facially unconstitutional or, in the alternative, unconstitutional as applied to a group, such as itself, that was unable to afford the insurance premium. Id. at 1053. The court agreed that the requirement was unconstitutional as applied to ECCAG. Id. at 1057. In reaching this conclusion, the court applied strict scrutiny and held the insurance requirement unconstitutional because it was not the least restrictive means available for advancing the state’s interest in avoiding a financial loss relating to ECCAG’s use of the railway bed. See id. at 1056-57. The court noted that the insurance requirement “substantially infringed” ECCAG’s First Amendment rights in a manner unjustified by that governmental interest. See id. at 1057. After Eastern Connecticut Citizens was decided, however, the Supreme Court held that intermediate scrutiny, not strict scrutiny, is the proper level of review for content-neutral time, manner and place regulations of speech. See Ward, 491 U.S. at 797-99, 109 S.Ct. 2746. It is therefore unclear whether Eastern Connecticut Citizens is, at the present time, binding authority in this Circuit. Nevertheless, its analysis of the dangers that overly burdensome financial requirements pose to First Amendment rights is persuasive to this Court. And its holding — that conditioning the right to freedom of expression on the purchasing of an insurance policy that the speaker can not afford violates the First Amendment — is well supported even under intermediate scrutiny, as more recent cases from other circuits demonstrate. In Van Amam, the plaintiff sought to hold a rally outside the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston. 332 F.Supp.2d at 379. The General Services Administration, the federal agency that administered the property, required the plaintiff to “indemnify and save harmless the United States, its agents and employees against any and all loss, damage, claim or liability whatsoever” relating to her use of the property. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The court issued a declaratory judgment that this requirement was unconstitutional as applied to the plaintiff. Id. at 407. Although the regulation at issue was an indemnification clause and not an insurance requirement, the court adopted the reasoning of cases involving insurance requirements because it found that “while the Clause does not technically compel event insurance, the realities require all but the judgment-proof and the foolhardy to give very serious consideration to purchasing private insurance.” Id. at 394. The court noted that “[t]he lower courts have generally found mandatory insurance provisions to be unconstitutional prior restraints on speech.” Id. at 393 (citing cases). Although the plaintiff in Van Amam was not indigent, either purchasing insurance to protect herself against the risks of indemnifying the government or self insuring and facing the prospect of “unlimited personal liability” would be “a serious financial burden for her — one that could (and in fact did) completely deter her from speaking on federal property. Id. at 406. As a result, the court, applying intermediate scrutiny, see id. at 401, held that the indemnification requirement was not narrowly tailored to serv