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Youngstown council mulls repealing anti-begging law
YOUNGSTOWN
The city’s proposed replacement of its anti-begging law is a “clear improvement” in comparison to the current one, but “there are serious questions about its constitutionality,” said an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
It was a June 4 letter from the ACLU to city officials demanding a repeal of the ordinance that makes it a crime to “beg for money or other things of value” that led city Law Director Martin Hume to inform the police department the next day to stop enforcing it. He agreed the ordinance is unconstitutional because the language is too broad.
The law department is proposing that council repeal the anti-begging law and replace it with an “improper solicitation” ordinance.
There was discussion about having council vote on the proposal at Wednesday’s meeting. Instead, it will be on the agenda of its Oct. 7 meeting.
The proposal would make it illegal to ask someone for “money, goods or any form of gratuity” in a public place after sunset and before sunrise.
It would also be illegal to solicit in a public transportation vehicle, at a bus or train stop, to a person in a vehicle as well as those entering or leaving a vehicle, and on private property without the owner’s permission.
It would restrict soliciting within 3 feet of a person, blocking the path of a person, following a person and soliciting in an aggressive manner.
Joseph Mead, an attorney working on behalf of the ACLU who wrote the June letter, said the proposed replacement “is a good step in the right direction,” but “it does not quite go far enough to satisfy the demands of the Constitution or of justice.”
Among the issues, Mead said, is the proposal “targets speech based on its content,” and that it allows the government to pick “the message it likes and doesn’t like.”
Also, limiting when someone can ask for money “is not well-crafted to accomplish any valid government goal,” he said.
Hume said council will get the proposal at its next meeting, and he sees no reason to change the language.
“We believe it’s a reasonable limitation on time, manner and place, and it’s not based on content,” he said. “It’s a legitimate exercise of police power to ensure public safety.”
In other matters, council voted to approve charging an annual licensing fee to the owners of downtown public parking lots and garages.
The original plan was to charge $1 for each spot. But after complaints from garage and lot owners, changes were made.
The annual fee is $25 for parking garages, $50 for lots with spots for up to 100 vehicles, and $75 for lots with space for more than 100 cars.
There are about 3,000 public-parking spots downtown.