brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Fair Assessment in Real Estate Ass’n v. McNary, 454 U.S. 100, 102 S.Ct. 177, 70 L.Ed.2d 271 (1981); Bland v. McHann, 463 F.2d 21 (5th Cir.1972)); this remains the case even though the § 1983 action may involve significant first amendment issues, for as the Supreme Court recently observed in California v. Grace Brethren Church, 457 U.S. at 415, 102 S.Ct. at 2512, 73 L.Ed.2dat 111 (1983), “Carving out a special exception (to the Tax Injunction Act) for taxpayers raising First Amendment claims would undermine significantly Congress’ primary purpose ‘to limit drastically federal district court jurisdiction to interfere with so important a local concern as the collection of taxes.’ ” We must therefore dismiss the claims addressed in the district court’s former two conclusions, and turn to a review of the merits of the latter two conclusions, which the plaintiff would have us affirm.
The Discretion of City Officials Discriminatorily to Deny Licenses under Section 16-4.1
Municipalities may enact laws in furtherance of the public health, safety and welfare, to the extent authorized by the states. Breard v. City of Alexandria, Louisiana, 341 U.S. 622, 71 S.Ct. 920; 95 L.Ed. 1233 (1951). Such municipal enactments are, as a general rule, presumptively constitutional. Goldblatt v. Hempstead, 369 U.S. 590, 82 S.Ct. 987, 8 L.Ed.2d 130 (1962); see also C. Antieau, Modern Constitutional Law § 3:2 at 206-09 (1969). The first amendment, however, restricts a municipality’s capacity to enact laws affecting freedom of expression:
The right to use a public place for expressive activity may be restricted only for weighty reasons. Clearly, government has no power to restrict such activity because of its message. Our cases make equally clear, however, that reasonable “time, place and manner” regulations may be necessary to further significant governmental interests, and are permitted.
Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 115, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 2303, 33 L.Ed.2d 222, 231 (1972). Time, place and manner restrictions indirectly affecting expressive conduct are permissible, provided that they “are content neutral, are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication.” United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, _, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 1707, 75 L.Ed.2d 736, 744 (1983); Perry Education Assn v. Perry Local Educators Assn, 460 U.S. 37, 45, 103 S.Ct. 948, 955, 74 L.Ed.2d 794, 805 (1983). In order to qualify as narrowly tailored, a content neutral ordinance must avoid vesting city officials with discretion to grant or deny licenses, for
It is settled by a long line of recent decisions of this Court that an ordinance which ... makes the peaceful enjoyment of freedoms which the Constitution guarantees contingent upon the uncontrolled will of an official — as by requiring a permit or license which may be granted or withheld in the discretion of such official — is an unconstitutional censorship or prior restraint upon the enjoyment of those freedoms.
Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, Ala., 394 U.S. 147, 151, 89 S.Ct. 935, 939, 22 L.Ed.2d 162, 167 (1969); Staub v. City of Baxley, 355 U.S. 313, 322, 78 S.Ct. 277, 282, 2 L.Ed.2d 302, 311 (1958).
There can be no doubt that the right to distribute newspapers by means of newsracks is protected by the first amendment to the United States Constitution. Lovell v. Griffin, 303 U.S. 444, 58 S.Ct. 666, 82 L.Ed. 949 (1938); Hull v. Petrillo, 439 F.2d 1184 (2d Cir.1981); Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc. v. Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 579 F.Supp. 90 (S.D.N.Y.1984); Southern New Jersey Newspapers v. State of New Jersey, 542 F.Supp. 173, 182-83 (D.N.J.1982); Philadelphia News, Inc. v. Borough Council, 381 F.Supp. 228, 241 (E.D.Pa.1974). Section 16-4.1 of the Hallandale City Code creates a content neutral restriction on that right: issuance and renewal of the Miami Herald’s license to vend newspapers via