Cape Coral threatens fines, jail time over watchdog group’s use of city logo

The city of Cape Coral is threatening fines and possible jail time against a local watchdog group over its use of the city’s official logo — a move now drawing a constitutional challenge from a national free speech organization.

The city sent multiple cease and desist letters to members of the Take Out The Trash Committee of Cape Coral, ordering them to remove images of the city seal and logos from online posts within 24 hours or face legal action. The letters specifically cite a post criticizing the city’s pension system that included the city seal and department logos, along with altered images of city officials.

Failure to comply, the city warned, could result in penalties including “a fine of not less than $100 and imprisonment for a term not exceeding sixty (60) days, or by both fine and imprisonment.”

The letters, signed by City Attorney Aleksandr Boksner, cite a recently adopted ordinance prohibiting unauthorized use of the city’s seal and logos without prior written approval from the City Manager.

The enforcement effort has escalated over time. An initial Jan. 30 notice warned the group about its use of the logo in a post criticizing the city’s pension system. A Feb. 4 letter expanded the notice to multiple members of the organization and reiterated the threat of legal action. The city issued another notice on Feb. 24, again ordering removal within 24 hours.

Take Out The Trash Committee Chair Kyle L’Hommedieu said he has no intention of complying, and the group is prepared to push back against the city in court if necessary. He went as far as publicly tearing the letters up during City Council meetings to make his point.

“Oh no, we’re going to keep on using the logo. They can go f*** off,” L’Hommedieu said. 

He said Facebook groups have used the city logo for years, but claims the city only chose to step up enforcement of the ordinance only when the Take Out The Trash Committee published the logo.

“These Facebook groups had been using the logo for years and years, and the city is well aware that they’ve been using them for years,” L’Hommedieu said. “It was when we published it in a news article that we had a problem. They couldn’t just go after us, so they went after everybody.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has since intervened, arguing the city’s actions violate the First Amendment. In a March 26 letter to officials, FIRE said Cape Coral’s policy amounts to an unconstitutional restriction on political speech — particularly because it targets a group critical of city government.

Terr said the problem is not that a city can never regulate misuse of its seal or logo. He specifically acknowledged the city could likely act if someone were trying to pass off a fake document as an official city communication. But he said that is not what happened here. 

“The problem is that the ordinance isn’t limited to uses of the seal or logo in ways that are intended to misrepresent that information as coming from the city or that a document is endorsed by the city,” Terr said. “That would be a different story. But Take Out The Trash Committee, for example, wasn’t using the logos and seal that way.”

Instead, Terr said Take Out The Trash used the logos in a blog post criticizing the city, including altered images with officials’ faces superimposed on them, and that no reasonable reader would think the post actually came from Cape Coral.

“We thought that this was a blatant violation of the group’s First Amendment rights. It is outrageous for the city to be threatening residents with fines and imprisonment just for the images they included in a blog post criticizing the city,” Terr said. 

“We looked into the ordinance and policy at issue and saw that they were unconstitutional on their face, so that’s why we decided to call on the city to rescind these cease and desist letters and revise its policies so that they comply with the First Amendment.”

FIRE argues the ordinance is overly broad, requiring residents to obtain government permission before using city symbols in any context — including satire, commentary or news reporting. The group also raised concerns that the city is selectively enforcing the rule against critics, claiming similar uses had gone unchallenged in the past.

L’Hommedieu told Florida Politics he believes Cape Coral will not enforce the local ordinance and should repeal it as unenforceable.

“Allegedly, the City Attorney stated somewhere that they’re not going to enforce that ordinance,” L’Hommedieu said. “Well, then it needs to be removed. It’s unenforceable, that’s the problem. Then you don’t keep it on the books — you retract it and you apologize, but they won’t do that.”

Take Out The Trash Committee and FIRE said they are still considering next steps, including possible legal action if the city moves to enforce the rule. The city of Cape Coral did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

“We saw this as a violation of a basic First Amendment principle, which is that the government doesn’t get to control how people criticize it,” Terr said.