There might not have been a candidates' forum in the Roosevelt Recreation Center in Hampden earlier this month, if not for a legal opinion by the Baltimore Department of Law saying such a forum in a city-owned building would be in the public interest.

The issue of whether it was appropriate to hold a political candidates' forum in a city building arose when the Hampden Community Council sought the permission of city Recreation and Parks department offiicials to hold the forum Aug. 22 at the Roosevelt Recreation Center for candidates running for mayor, City Council president and City Council seats in the 7th, 12th and 14th districts.

"At first, they said no," even though the Hampden Community Council has held pre-election forums in years past, said Lisa Meyers, president of the Roosevelt Recreation Council. "We stepped in as a council," she said.

The recreation council turned to 14th District City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who asked William Tyler, chief of recreation for the city. Tyler in turn forwarded the request to the legal department, Clarke said.

"He was very understanding, but he was waiting for (an opinion by) the law department," Clarke said.

Meyers said the legal department approved the use of the center for that purpose, judging that "it would be informative to the community and nonpartisan."

She thinks the opinion can be used "for future reference," so that "we won't have to go through this again."

City Solicitor George Nilson told the Messenger he had no problem with the use of the venue for the forum, and that there is no city or Recreation and Parks policy regarding the issue. He said it's the first time the issue has come to his attention since he became solicitor in 2007.

"I said, frankly, it would create problems to pull the plug on such an event in the absence of a policy," Nilson said, adding, "We're talking about a recreation center. All I did literally was address a situation where there was a rec and parks policy that said such forums were not allowed."

Nilson warned that his opinion should not be taken as a blanket policy. That would be "an overstatement," he said, because, "What is OK in recreation centers might not be OK in city hall."

But he said recreation centers "encourage community events," and that not to allow them in those settings might raise legal issues about the right to free speech.

"Recreation centers are generally made available for community events," he said. And if rec centers couln't be used for candidates' forums, "Some would say that's hardly fair to the electoral process."

Nilson suggested it might be wise for Recreation and Parks, as a city agency, to set its own policy "with some guidance from the law department."

Clarke agreed with that, saying, "Then everyone could plan accordingly."

""If it's not a legal issue, it's an ethical one," Clarke said. "You don't want a recreation center used for a candidate's rally," for example.

But she said in this case it was a nonpartisan, professionally run forum in which even Green Party candidates were invited and all candidates were given equal time to answer pre-written questions.

Parks and Recreation officials could not be reached for comment.