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Begging to differ in Y’town
On the side
Former Mahoning County Engineer Richard A. Marsico, who died Saturday at age 80, was one of my favorite people in Mahoning Valley politics. He had a great sense of humor and was very politically astute.
We also had a strange ritual.
Each year at the Canfield Fair, I’d visit the engineer’s tent, and Marsico, a Democrat who served 16 years as county engineer, was usually there. We’d spend a few minutes talking, usually about politics. I’d take the new county map, which had a big picture of him on the front, and he’d autograph it.
I have no idea how it started or why it continued. We never discussed it. It was just our thing. I still have five of those maps in a drawer in my office desk dating back to 2006. I’ve looked at them more than a few times this week.
The day after the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio called for Youngstown to repeal its anti-begging ordinance, saying it’s unconstitutional, the city’s law director told police to stop enforcing it.
Law Director Martin Hume agreed the ordinance approved by city council Oct. 7, 2009, is unconstitutional. It reads: “No person shall beg for money or other things of value within the city.”
Police will still enforce aggressive and/or harassing conduct, Hume said.
Also, the law department is working on new language for council’s consideration that could potentially limit geographic areas and times of the day in which begging would be permitted as well as how close a panhandler can be next to a person, Hume said.
The decision to stop enforcing the ordinance is based on a 2013 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District, which has jurisdiction in Ohio, that a Michigan law, similar to Youngstown’s, banning begging in public places was unconstitutional.
Michigan’s unconstitutional law, approved in 1929, read: “A person is a disorderly person if ... found begging in a public place.”
The court ruling was made in a case involving two homeless men charged in Grand Rapids with violating the state’s begging law.
Between 2008 and 2011, 399 people were arrested or cited by police in Grand Rapids for begging.
What’s happened since the court decision two years ago?
“Panhandling has increased tenfold since we stopped enforcing” the ordinance, said Grand Rapids City Attorney Catherine M. Mish.
In Youngstown, most of the public begging is downtown.
In Grand Rapids, it’s more widespread, Mish said. It’s on highway on and off ramps, downtown locations, and at intersections of busy streets.
There is no law in place regulating aggressive begging, she said.
The city commissioners in Grand Rapids – a city with about three times the population of Youngstown – voted 3-3 in July 2014 on a proposal with panhandling restrictions. It would have banned aggressive panhandling in specific areas as well as any begging within 15 feet of various public locations, and from people in cars on public streets, Mish said.
“We had a much lower level of panhandling when we enforced the state law,” she said.
The city’s mayor convened a group of residents to come up with proposals to resolve the problem, but the problem continues, Mish said.
“It’s a problem, and there are more [beggars] than before,” she said.
Can this become an issue in Youngstown?
Well, it already is a problem downtown. As far as it getting worse with police not enforcing it, Hume said he doesn’t believe that will happen.
Police can still charge panhandlers with disorderly conduct if they are too aggressive, Hume said, and proposed adjustments can address other concerns.
We’ll find out soon enough.