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Zoning Bulletin March 10, 20131 Volume 7 I Issue 5 <br />Case Note: <br />11l <br />Bowden died during the pendency of the appeal. Dawn D. Brown, the administratrix <br />of his estate, was substituted as the Plaintiff - Appellee in the case. <br />Case Note: <br />The court recognized that a nativity scene or an elaborate work of art could <br />implicate traffic safety no less than an ordinary residential sign, but the court <br />emphasized that "the content neutrality inquiry is whether the Sign Ordinance's <br />exemptions have a reasonable, not optimal, relationship to these asserted <br />interests." <br />Case Note: <br />Bowden had also contended that the Sign Ordinance exemptions were unconstitu- <br />tionally vague. The court disagreed, noting that the Town had defined `public art" <br />and "holiday decorations," which themselves were concepts that "do not lend <br />themselves to easy definition." <br />Case Note: <br />Several other circuits do apply an absolutist reading of content neutrality, includ- <br />ing the Fifth Circuit (See Service Employees Intern. Union, Local 5 v. City ofHous- <br />ton, 595 F.3d 588, 596, 187 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3167, 159 Lab. Cas. (CCH) P 10178 <br />(5th Cir. 2010)), the Eighth Circuit (See Neighborhood Enterprises, Inc. v. City of <br />St. Louis, 644 F.3d 728, 736 (8th Cir. 2011), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 1543, 182 L. <br />Ed, 2d 163 (2012)), and the Eleventh Circuit (See Solantic, LLC v. City of Neptune <br />Beach, 410 F.3d 1250, 1263 (11th Cir. 2005)). Other circuits apply the "more <br />practical test for assessing content neutrality" used by the Fourth Circuit here, <br />including: the Third Circuit (See Melrose, Inc. v. City of Pittsburgh, 613 F.3d 380, <br />389 (3d Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 1008, 178 L. Ed. 2d 828 (2011)); the <br />Seventh Circuit (See American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois v. Alvarez, 679 <br />F.3d 583, 603, 40 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1721 (7th Cir. 2012), cert. denied, 133 S. <br />Ct. 651 (2012)); the Sixth Circuit (See H.D. V.- Greektown, LLC v. City of Detroit, <br />568 F.3d 609, 622 (6th Cir. 2009)); and the Ninth Circuit (See G.K. Ltd. Travel v. <br />City of Lake Oswego, 436 F.3d 1064, 1079 (9th Cir. 2006)). <br />© 2013 Thomson Reuters 9 <br />