Private property can be protected in some cases, but public areas like roadsides, corners, public parks and the like cannot be, as the courts have ruled pretty consistently.
(SALEM, Ore.) - At the December 3rd 2007 meeting of the Salem City Council there will be, amongst other things, a discussion of proposed ordinance changes regarding 'panhandling'.
Panhandling is defined as "To obtain by approaching and begging from a stranger".
It is also defined, by the US Supreme Court (Village of Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 444 U.S. 620 (1980); Gresham v. Peterson, 225 F.3d 899, 904 (7th Cir. 2000); Loper v. New York City Police Dept., 999 F.2d 699, 704 (2nd Cir. 1993) and many other cases).
Private property can be protected from such activities, for the most part, but public areas, especially public rights of way like roadsides, corners, public parks and the like cannot be, as the courts have ruled pretty consistently.
Which makes me marvel, again, at the Salem City Council and their ongoing apparent penchant for trying to do the unconstitutional and wasting the public's money (taxes) doing so.
They tried to attack lap dancing in a similar manner and the ordinance was ruled unconstitutional. But even though several spoke at the council meeting against the plan, and no one spoke in favor of it, the Council decided to pursue a doomed appeal anyway, wasting taxpayer dollars.
And they (the Council) wonder why voters vote against tax increases and bonds... the voters figure that if the government can waste money like this then they clearly do not need any more.
And yet we now find Councilors Brad Nanke and Dan Clem planning to ask city staff to bring back information on a new Medford ordinance, which prohibits panhandlers from asking for money at intersections with traffic signals.
When will they ever learn?
Roseburg and Medford are on the road to high legal bills and lawsuit judgments against them. Anyone they cite for violation has legal standing to sue and the ACLU and others stand ready and willing to give them all the legal firepower they might need to do so.
So why is the Salem City Council in such a rush to flush our limited tax dollars down this particular drain?
The City Council has already recklessly and needlessly volunteered to spend ten million dollars, or more, to fix up all the sidewalks in Salem, Oregon before handing back responsibility to the abutting landowners.
This decision not only sucks up a vast amount of tax money but also, from the position of those wanting to see the sidewalks fixed sooner rather than later, it takes the date where most repairs would be finished from less than a year from now and pushes it deep into the distant murky future, if ever. This decision has caused plans for a class action ADA lawsuit against the city on the matter to move forward.
If you ask me, the last thing the City Council of Salem, Oregon should be doing is wasting money, especially if they are violating constitutional rights to do it.
Not only that, but there is a matter of consistency.
Salem allows a regular fundraising 'event' around city hall where firemen wander around through traffic soliciting donations to be put in a boot.
The public schools seek to bolster waning budgets by sending swarms of kids home and into neighborhoods to ply emotional extortion to raise money for various activities from bands to sports to field trips etc.
So will all these 'panhandling' activities be stopped too? Or will just some, those deemed 'unworthy', be curtailed?
Since when does any level of government have the right or place to determine what aspect of speech or interpersonal interaction, is 'worthy' and which is not? The courts continually say they have no such right and no such place, yet they continue to try over and over again.
And from the perspective of those who value freedom and the concept of civil and individual rights, this is a very dangerous practice, harmful to the core concepts that raise this nation above that of the most craven and base dictatorship.
Those in positions of power, it appears, need to be reminded of this from time to time.
Salem City Council Versus the PanhandlersSalem-News.com