Iowa City Council Approves First Vote of Controversial Ordinance Directed at Homeless Use of Pedestrian Mall

Homeless and need somewhere to rest?

It soon might be cheaper to get a cheap motel room than to sleep on a Pedestrian Mall bench.

The Iowa City City Council vote 6-1 (council member Jim Throgmorton dissenting) in favor of a new ordinance that would restrict the use-- or misuse, depending on who you ask-- of the Pedestrian Mall by the city's homeless and other transient citizens.

Gregg Hennigan of the Gazette reports that the city council members who voted in favor of the ordinance said they were responding to the popular area increasingly becoming a problem spot for a number of different reasons:

The action follows what city and downtown business officials say is a growing number of complaints about aggressive panhandling, fighting, vulgar language and loitering on the Pedestrian Mall.

Supporters of the ordinance say the problems are especially acute on the north end of the Ped Mall by Washington and Dubuque streets. That’s where people who are homeless or appear impoverished tend to congregate.

“I’m on the Ped Mall a lot, and I have never been uncomfortable like you are now,” said council member and downtown business owner Connie Champion, citing aggressive panhandling and sexual activity.

The ordinance would make the following a simple misdemeanor offense punishable by a $65 fine, at the discretion of the officer: the use of benches for sleeping between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., lying in the Ped Mall greenery planters, improper use of the electrical outlets downtown, and using public space for storing personal items.  

Adam Sullivan of the Press-Citizen writes that council member Throgmorton, in his dissenting opinion, noted that the ordinance had not been thoroughly debated by council discussion prior to the vote, so there might be root causes to the problem that they are missing.

Throgmorton also said the regulations haven’t seen enough public vetting. City staff members said they’ve been working on the issue for months, but Tuesday’s vote was the first time the issue has been on a City Council agenda.

“The council has not even discussed the topic. That unsettles me. I think we need to discuss it before we have a formal session agenda item and before we take a vote on acting,” Throgmorton said.

City staff claims that while many of the complaints received by the public include behaviors that are already illegal, the ordinance will give police wider purview to enforce trouble behaviors.

City manager Tom Markus wrote in a memo to the council that the police are working on an arrangement that would allow offenders to do community service in lieu of a fine. Markus also wrote in the memo that the ordinance was designed to expand the no-panhandling sections of the downtown that can be enforced under the provisions already in city code.