Weary of lawsuits over its refusal to run some controversial advertising, the MTA board voted to redesignate its ad space as a 'limited public forum' at its board meeting Wednesday.

Officials say that designation will allow the agency to reject ads containing political viewpoints, thus sidestepping the issue altogether.

But the topic generated wrenching discussion from both the public and several board members. 

Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union warned the ban would have a chilling effect on free speech. "If a hateful political ad runs on some buses for a few weeks and creates a controversy, we will all survive that," he said. "But if you ban all political ads, that will be a grievous blow to all of us."

He was followed by Pamela Geller, a pro-Israel activist who has sued the MTA over her incendiary ads. Last week, the judge sided with Geller and agreed her ads were protected speech.

"There's a war going on in the information battle space," Geller told the board. "And all the bullets and the bombs and the bloodshed comes as a result of what happens in this war. You cannot shut this down."

MTA board member and holocaust survivor Charles Moerdler said the recent court ruling had left the MTA with a Hobson's Choice. "Either bar all non-commercial non-public service opinion speech," he said, "or provide a continuing platform for the hatemongers that would tear society apart in order to advance their own warped views. Reluctantly, I champion the former view."

But board member Jonathan Ballan said the ban was "probably unconstitutional." He added: "So in effect, in a well-intentioned, paternalistic action towards our customers, we're stopping free expression of ideas to save the public from perhaps reading something that offends them."

After the board voted 9-2 in favor of the new guidelines, MTA chief Tom Prendergast defended the new policy. "While I do not in any way, shape or form want to trample--"

But his microphone gave out, presumably when he was about to utter the words "on free speech."

When the sound system was revived, Prendergast continued: "We can't get so diverted from what our main function is, which is to provide transportation, because when we start to do that, I think board members get to a point where we want to get back to the basics. Without trampling on the First Amendment."

The new ad policy goes into effect immediately.

Pamela Geller told WNYC she intends to continue legal action against the MTA. "This is is far from over," she said.