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Youngstown council to consider law to make it illegal to sit, lay down or loiter downtown
YOUNGSTOWN
City council will consider legislation Wednesday making it illegal to sit, lie down or loiter on downtown sidewalks, streets and other public areas.
The ordinance prohibiting “improper conduct in the central business district” is being proposed by Mayor John A. McNally, who said since the city repealed its anti-begging law in October 2015, “we’ve noticed a lot more people hanging around downtown.”
City officials have seen people in and near surface parking lots gathering and drinking alcoholic beverages in the middle of the day, McNally said.
“We’ve received complaints in the past few months of newer people hanging out downtown,” he said. “We’ll issue a written warning first. Then we’re issuing citations and making arrests. You can’t sit, lay or loiter on sidewalks ... you also can’t sleep on sidewalks, and you can’t block people and cars.”
The city has received complaints from downtown business owners, said Law Director Martin Hume.
“Nobody’s trying to be unfair about a person’s socioeconomic status,” he said. “You can’t block sidewalks. You can’t be in doorways. You can’t put a sleeping bag or mattress down and sleep there.”
The ordinance states those engaging in conduct that violates this proposal for the first time will get a written warning by police and be ordered to leave. If the person refuses to go or already has received a written warning, that person will be charged with a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
Those convicted under this proposal would be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor for additional violations.
In June 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio wrote Youngstown officials contending its anti-begging law was unconstitutional. Hume agreed and informed the police department the day after getting the letter to stop enforcing it. The ACLU pointed out that the language in that law was too broad.
City council voted in October to formally repeal the ordinance and replaced it with a law making it a crime to “beg for money or other things of value” in a public place after sunset and before sunrise.