Council expands (little-enforced?) civility ordinance
Last week, Councilmember Ada Edwards compared a proposed civility ordinance to racism:
"We just can't keep moving people from point to point," she said. "It reminds me of the signs that said 'no blacks served here.' I find it very offensive and very frustrating. We need to find a way other than to criminalize these people."
As KTRH-740's Brent Fuller reports, Council extended the civility ordinance this week:
Avondale, Old Sixth Ward and Hyde Park are now covered by the City of Houston's "civility ordinance," which bans sitting or lying down on sidewalks for most of the day and previously applied only to Midtown and downtown.
Some at City Hall say the law should apply citywide. "To say something is illegal on one street and not on another makes no sense," said Councilwoman Addie Wiseman.Discussion of a more inclusive ban has centered on whether a citywide ordinance could pass constitutional muster. City Attorney Arturo Michel says some proof of necessity will be key. He suggested that a ban on "sleeping" should be a part of any blanket ordinance, "because on its face, that could be a safety hazard."
Councilman Adrian Garcia is calling for a specific ban on urban camping and says the question is not "are you homeless?" but rather "are you sleeping in a temporary facility inside the city limits that is not a designated camping area?"
Vagrants and panhandlers don't take Council's weak efforts to cut down on street panhandling seriously, and it doesn't seem likely that they are going to take this ordinance seriously either. In fact, if you click on the thumbnail, you can pull up a larger photo on Flickr that shows a vagrant who has set up a tent on a vacant lot in Midtown (where a civility ordinance has already been applied, but has gone unenforced), right across from the rail station. I don't think this is the sort of "development" all the rail Houtopians have in mind as they carry on about the wonders of light rail.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/07/06 10:18 PM | Print |
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.