A pro-marijuana group competing with the U.S. Conference of Mayors for a street use permit was denied part of its request by city officials Wednesday.

Ben Masel, organizer of the annual Weedstock festival in Baraboo, applied for a permit to hold a two-day rally on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the mayors’ conference, which will be held at Monona Terrace June 14-15.

Masel said he wanted to use the 100 and 200 blocks of MLK Boulevard to get “political messages to the mayors’ conference.” City officials said the 200 block is off limits to all use during the two-day conference due to security concerns — President Bush and Vice President Cheney might attend the conference.

“We were told [by police] that the 200 block would not be available,” Kelli Lamberty of the city’s street use staff team said.

She said no permits would be issued for the 200 block during the conference, which means conference officials will have to change their plans for a mayoral procession from the Capitol to Monona Terrace.

Masel reportedly said he would appeal the staff team’s decision and possibly take the city to court.

“I appreciate the gesture of accommodating free speech, but I just wish it had gone far enough to say we could live with it, but it didn’t,” Masel told the Capitol Times.

He told the staff team Wednesday restricting access on the 200 block may increase frustrations of protesters.

“If there’s a perception of access to the mayors’ conference, there will be a whole lot less of the kind of frustration that might cause problems here,” he said.

Lamberty said the U.S. Conference of Mayors organizers would have to return to the staff team with an updated plan if they still choose to hold a parade. She said city ordinance requires groups to obtain permit approval at least five days prior to their event.