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ACLU will likely sue Youngstown if anti-loitering proposal approved
YOUNGSTOWN
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio likely would sue Youngstown if city council approves a proposed anti-loitering ordinance.
“I anticipate we’d be filing a lawsuit, but we first have to look at what’s adopted by council,” said Joseph Mead, an attorney who works on behalf of the ACLU.
The organization sent a letter Wednesday to city council and Mayor John A. McNally, who is sponsoring the ordinance, advising the legislative body to reject the proposal because it gives too much discretion to police officers to target the homeless and is unconstitutional.
“This ordinance uses vague language to give law-enforcement power to harass and arrest whomever they choose,” Mead said. “It is shocking how much innocent behavior would become illegal under this proposal.”
In the letter, Avidan Cover, an associate professor at Case Western University School of Law, and Doron Kalir, clinical professor at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Civil Litigation Clinic, wrote the proposal is “fatally flawed.
“The proposed ordinance is so vague as to leave citizens without any idea of what behavior is prohibited and fails to meaningfully limit police discretion. Indeed, that appears to be the goal: to potentially sweep in a huge amount of innocent and everyday behavior and then expect the police to enforce the law discriminatorily and arbitrarily against people subjectively viewed as undesirable.”
City council postponed a vote June 15 making it illegal to sit, lie down or loiter on downtown sidewalks, streets or within 50 feet of a business. Some said the proposal is too restrictive and that police officers need more training.
In an interview with The Vindicator on June 16, a day after that council meeting, Mead, who’s also a law and nonprofit-management professor at Cleveland State University, said he was “pretty skeptical” about the proposal, adding, “It’s not going to be productive to harass people who are considered undesirable.”
Police Chief Robin Lees said at a June 23 council safety committee meeting that officers would be properly trained, with council members saying they were prepared to approve the proposal when they next meet, which is next Wednesday.
Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th, a retired Youngstown police officer and vice chairwoman of the legislative body’s safety committee, said Wednesday that the ACLU raises some valid concerns that she’s expressed before.
“Is it constitutional?” she asked. “I’ll ask more questions to the law director. I may or may not be ready to vote for it – or even on it – at the next meeting.”
On Wednesday, Councilman Nate Pinkard, D-3rd, safety committee chairman and a retired Mill Creek MetroParks police chief, said, “I had concerns on enforcement and training to make sure police won’t abuse it and will be trained properly by the law department. The police chief assured me they’d be properly trained. We need to have a law that is legal.”
McNally said he appreciated the ACLU’s “concerns, but as mayor, [I’m] trying to respond to the concerns of our downtown workers and employers and visitors. We want to make downtown welcome for everyone, including those who like to hang out, as long as they don’t break the law and don’t interfere with store owners’ businesses and people working downtown.”
While McNally told The Vindicator on June 16 that he’s “not really concerned about the ACLU’s interpretation at this point,” he said Wednesday that “the law department will review the letter and see if any adjustments are needed. I hope council moves forward.”
The proposal from McNally came after numerous downtown business owners complained about large groups of people blocking the entrances to their stores and restaurants, saying that some were selling drugs, drinking alcoholic beverages and being disruptive.
If the legislation is approved, those who violate it would be charged with a fourth-degree misdemeanor after a written warning. Subsequent convictions would be second-degree misdemeanors.
On behalf of the ACLU, Mead informed the law department in June 2015 that the city’s anti-begging ordinance, approved in 2009, was too vague and unconstitutional.
Law Director Martin Hume agreed, and city council later voted on an “improper solicitation” ordinance that the ACLU still finds objectionable.