People panhandling around 疯客直播 Fe may start to receive something less appreciated than spare change or food: a warning that what they鈥檙e doing is now illegal.
The City Council over the summer approved a new ordinance restricting people from sitting or standing in medians less than 3 feet wide but delayed the implementation by six months.
With the measure taking effect Feb. 1, city staff began the process of educating residents about its implications Wednesday. Fines will not begin for another two months.
鈥淲e鈥檝e spent the past few months internally talking about how we would get the word out in a good way so that people are not surprised when we start to implement it,鈥 Mayor Alan Webber, one of the ordinance鈥檚 sponsors, said in an interview.
鈥榁ery, very dangerous鈥
The measure restricts people from loitering in narrow medians with exceptions for people who become unexpectedly incapacitated while crossing a road or who are stuck or providing assistance due to a vehicle crash or other emergency. An amendment downgraded the penalty from potential jail time to a $25 fine.
The ordinance was sponsored by Webber and Councilor Pilar Faulkner and passed by an 8-1 vote of the City Council in July after a lengthy journey through the city鈥檚 legislative process. Councilor Alma Castro was the sole no vote, saying at the time she was concerned about enforcement leading to additional criminalization of the homeless.
The sponsors said at the time the bill did not specifically target any one population, such as panhandlers, and was designed to protect the safety of people in the roadway and drivers. In interviews this week, both stood by that characterization.
Faulkner said homeless people standing in the middle of busy streets is 鈥渁 formula for disaster.鈥
鈥淭he medians are the worst place for anybody who has metal health issues or addiction issues to be standing,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very, very dangerous.鈥
Webber said the measure originated with 鈥渁 number of close calls鈥 with people standing in medians or their pets being struck, and added people standing in busy streets creates a danger both for themselves and surrounding drivers.
鈥淢y hope is that we鈥檒l see a lot of those situations be alleviated,鈥 he said.
A rushed outreach process?
Councilors delayed implementation of the ordinance by six months so city staff could get a better handle on what enforcement would look like and make people aware it would be coming.
Thomas Grundler, deputy chief of operations for the 疯客直播 Fe Police Department, said for the first 60 days, police will pass out information cards in English and Spanish to people they see standing in narrow medians but will not impose fines until April 1.
Webber said the cards contain a QR code which links directly to a city map of medians.
Grundler said city staff will also paint affected medians yellow to make it easier for people to know where they can and cannot stand during the 60-day warning period. He said he could not speak to why outreach was just starting now.
鈥淏asically, they give us our marching orders and tell us this is when we鈥檙e implementing,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o I couldn鈥檛 tell you what the plan was prior to that, all I can tell you is what we were told in terms of enforcement.鈥
Faulkner also said she did not know why outreach had just begun this week.
鈥淚 thought they would be handing out stuff much earlier,鈥 she said. However, she added 60 days without fines 鈥渋s a lot of warning time.鈥
Webber said work had been underway on creating the online map and formulating the correct language for the information cards.
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 enough time for people to get the message that the ordinance is coming into effect,鈥 he said.
Grundler said police likely will not proactively enforce the measure, which he compared to a traffic citation in terms of importance.
鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 necessarily be a high priority,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f one of our officers happens to see somebody who seems to be loitering on one of the affected medians, they鈥檒l probably address it, but if they鈥檙e on their way to a higher-priority call, it鈥檚 not going to be something that will pull them away.鈥
The police department has struggled with recruitment and retention in recent years, causing some councilors to question whether the department would have the capacity to enforce the ordinance while it was being considered. Webber noted this week the department has had a number of recent hires and is 鈥渧ery, very close鈥 to having a single-digit vacancy rate.
He said he didn鈥檛 expect enforcing the median ordinance to be any officer鈥檚 highest priority, but said because it is so visible, he didn鈥檛 think it would be difficult for officers to write citations if they notice someone repeatedly violating the law.
鈥淭he point of this is public safety; and if we can get people to acknowledge that and change their behavior, then I think it鈥檒l be a success,鈥 he said.
鈥楿nintended consequences鈥
Some advocates for the homeless voiced skepticism about the public safety narrative, while others wondered how many people know to expect it.
Korina Lopez, executive director of the Interfaith Community Shelter, said shelter staff members try to make clients aware of legislation that will affect them, but she said she had almost forgotten the ordinance was about to take effect.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been pretty busy for us with the cold weather, making sure the guests are safe and all that,鈥 she noted. The shelter has been part of increased efforts through much of January to expand access to services during bitterly cold days and nights.
Karen Cain, founder of the Street Homeless Animal Project, said the cold weather has also been the main concern of the people she works with. She said she is not sure how much of a deterrent the ordinance will be, particularly for those who rely on panhandling to make money.
鈥淚 think people will still be out there flying signs and after the grace period will be fined,鈥 she said.
Joe Dudziak of Chaplain Joe鈥檚 Street Outreach said people he interacts with were aware the restrictions would be coming but had lost track of when.
Dudziak said he worries about the ordinance having unintended consequences for the homeless, including leaving some people with little means to provide for themselves.
鈥淚 know people say get a job, but it鈥檚 not that easy,鈥 he said, especially for people who may not have ID documents or a place to shower or do laundry.
Both Dudziak and Cain said they saw the measure more as a way to try to crack down on visible homelessness than to try and keep people safe.
鈥淚n my humble opinion, it鈥檚 just further criminalizing homelessness,鈥 Dudziak said.