By JOHN HOWELL Although there is no mention of panhandling in its four paragraphs, the ACLU Rhode Island has voiced strong opposition" to city legislation that would prevent people from walking or standing in the street or median where sidewalks are"
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Although there is no mention of panhandling in its four paragraphs, the ACLU Rhode Island has voiced “strong opposition” to city legislation that would prevent people from walking or standing in the street or median where sidewalks are provided.
The council was expected to delay action on the ordinance introduced by Ward 9 Councilman Steve Merolla Monday, as in Merolla’s words, he would prefer to know the ruling of the federal court before proceeding. Mayor Scott Avedisian is also taking a cautionary approach to the measure, waiting for City Solicitor Peter Ruggiero to review the letter from Steven Brown, executive director of the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Warwick Police Chief Col. Stephen McCartney said the council has not contacted him.
“Any concern we have would most likely center around the constitutionality of the ordinance should there be a challenge to its legality in the pass. Obviously, that will remain to be seen depending on whether the ordinance passes and if and when we commence to enforce,” he said in an email.
Merolla said his concern with panhandlers was raised last summer as he was waiting for a light at Route 2 and Warwick Mall. He said a woman driver was so fearful of a man who was standing in the road and yelling at her that she was stopped a good four car’s lengths before the intersection. Merolla decided to investigate and stopped in front of the man who waved his arms frantically and was yelling, “‘You think I have a house; you think I have money.’” Merolla called police. He thought the man was endangering his own safety and those of motorists seeking to avoid him should have been charged with disorderly conduct.
While that incident isn’t cited in the March 15 letter from Brown, he writes the ordinance “would prohibit a wide array of First Amendment protected activity in the city.” He lists panhandling, passing of the boot by firefighters in fund-raising campaigns and people from conveying their political preferences with the display of political signs.
Brown goes on to say the ACLU successfully challenged a Cranston ordinance that would have barred solicitation on roadways. He said Cranston officials “wisely and appropriately acknowledged the ordinance’s unconstitutionality.” By contrast, he writes, that the Warwick law would ban “any First Amendment activity whatsoever on road medians.”
“Frankly, we suspect that an ordinance like this would be selectively enforced against poor people pleading for donations, just as Cranston’s roadway solicitation ban was,” Brown writes.
Merolla thinks panhandling in and around Route 2 and the malls has hurt business. He believes some of it is an organized scheme with people being picked up and dropped off at preferred locations. Nonetheless, he is sensitive to the First Amendment and those rights. He said the U.S. Supreme Court has defined those rights as having bearing at a “reasonable time, place and manner.”
He doesn’t see that as enabling someone to stand in the middle of the street yelling in the faces of motorists. “It’s knowing what is okay and what isn’t.”
In most instances, Merolla believes existing city ordinances regulating jay walking could be used to charge people standing in the road and on narrow road dividers. He noted, however, the law would need to be uniformly enforced, meaning that campaigns like the firefighters’ pass the boot would fall under regulation.
Before moving ahead with his traffic ordinance, Merolla said, “I want to see what the newest ruling from the federal court is.”
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bendover
Memo to Steve Brown, his neighbors and other card carrying members of the ACLU...Monday's will be designated "PANCAKE MONDAY" a day on which the above will begin by grilling pancakes starting at 06:00, baking pancakes for all the panhandlers who are hungry, until all are fed, as well as free RIPTA bus passes so that others may join them for this endless buffet. Have a nice day. Pass the Mrs. Butterworth's....
Tuesday, March 21, 2017 Report this
davebarry109
Note to Merolla: You should read the disorderly statutes. I hope you weren't a criminal lawyer.
Note to ACLU: No one cares about you.
Note to Council: Don't be afraid of the ACLU.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 Report this
ThatGuyInRI
So.
Does anybody have any valid info on why the city has been overrun by panhandlers in the last year?
They are constantly at the corner of East Ave and Bald Hill Road, I've seen as many as four there at once, one on each corner. There is constantly one or two at the junction of Main Ave and Greenwhich Ave. There is often one at the junction of Strawberry Field Lane and Sandy Lane. There is often one at the exit of route 37 onto Post Road. And these are just the ones I see pretty much daily. There a likely others at corners not on my usual pathway.
What is going on? Have other cities passed ordinances which have funneled them our way? Has a homeless shelter closed? Looking for info.
Friday, March 24, 2017 Report this