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Youngstown police press ahead with anti-loitering effort, despite lack of council vote
and Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Despite concerns from city council members about a proposed anti-loitering law, Mayor John A. McNally said police will cite and arrest those sitting, lying down or standing for long periods of time on downtown sidewalks, streets and near businesses.
“We have police enforcing laws, and we will continue to do that,” McNally said. “We may not be able to charge people with loitering, but they can help move people along. There’s a variety of ways to charge. It’s a police officer’s role to ask questions. We’ve got to keep people moving along downtown.”
Other options include charging people with open-container violations, drug possession and disorderly conduct if appropriate, he said.
Police issued minor-misdemeanor open-container violations to three people downtown Wednesday.
“We don’t intend to harass people, but we need to utilize the tools we have with police to keep downtown safe,” McNally said.
City council postponed a vote Wednesday to allow police to charge people with loitering downtown. Members said they supported the proposal, but some wanted police training, and others were concerned that it would discourage people from coming downtown.
McNally, Police Chief Robin Lees and Law Director Martin Hume say downtown business owners and residents are complaining about large groups of people standing outside their places of business and their apartments.
Some of the people are drinking alcohol, while others are doing drugs, McNally said.
“More and more, we’re hearing about this issue from downtown business owners,” he said. “The desire is not to arrest people or cite people. We need to keep people moving. Our business owners need help with people impacting their business.”
Joseph Mead, an attorney who works on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio instrumental in striking down the city’s anti-begging law last year, said he’s “pretty skeptical” of the anti-loitering proposal.
“It’s not going to be productive to harass people who are considered undesirable,” said Mead, who also is a law and nonprofit-management professor at Cleveland State University. “We expect the police to enforce the laws on the books and not what the mayor feels is appropriate.”
The proposal is “so vague and encompassing that it applies to normal behavior,” Mead said. “It gives officers so much discretion. Historically, it’s led to racial profiling. Targeting people is not the way our government should respond to a problem.”
Mead informed Hume in June 2015 that Youngstown’s anti-begging ordinance, approved in 2009, was too vague and unconstitutional. Hume agreed, and in October 2015, city council replaced it with an “improper solicitation” ordinance that restricts when and where people can ask someone for money.
McNally said he’s “not really concerned about the ACLU’s interpretation at this point. I’m concerned about downtown business owners, residents, workers and visitors.”
While city council considers the anti-loitering proposal, police officers are being instructed to enforce the city’s open-container ordinance, Lees said.
Also, citations could be issued if any behavior downtown rises to the level of disorderly conduct or public intoxication, he said.
“We’re trying to increase the enforcement to discourage that kind of behavior,” Lees said.
Of the three people charged Wednesday with open-container violations, James Kula, 51, listed as homeless in police reports, was cited on two occasions that day and later arrested on a charge of aggravated menacing after police said he threatened to kill officers because of his previous citations.
Kula was cited the first time about 12:05 p.m. behind 124 W. Federal St., which reports said is a haven for people drinking and taking drugs downtown.
Also cited with Kula was Ryan Klose, 18, no address listed. He also was charged with underage drinking.
Kula was issued his second citation about 7:30 p.m. Reports said he was drinking from a can of beer on the steps of the court of appeals, 131 W. Federal St.
About 10:25 p.m., police were called to Federal and Hazel streets to find Kula allegedly screaming that he would kill them all and that he was upset about being cited earlier in the day.
Kula was taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, and a police hold was placed on him. Reports said paramedics wanted to have his high blood pressure checked, and he also was admitted to the psychiatric ward for observation.
Just before 12 p.m. Wednesday, Summer Jackson, 30, who also is homeless, was spotted by an officer drinking from a can of beer at West Federal Street and Vindicator Square, reports said.