MORGANTOWN — It criminalizes poverty.
It’s unconstitutional.
It will get you sued.
Those statements sum up a thoroughly one-sided public hearing conducted by the Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday regarding a proposed ordinance regulating pedestrian and vehicle safety — formerly identified as a countywide panhandling ordinance.
Representatives of the ACLU of West Virginia, Mountain State Justice and the League of Women Voters, as well as a number of individuals, expressed concerns regarding the potential law.
“This is about the criminalization of poverty and it’s going to have negative effects on people. It’s not going to help people no matter how many times we say that’s what we hope to gain here. That’s not what’s going to happen,” ACLU Outreach Director Mollie Kennedy said. “It’s another effort by the city and the county to push houseless people out of sight. It makes people more comfortable. It doesn’t make people more safe.”
In the end, the roughly hour-long feedback session was essentially a dry run as the commission never actually took up approval of the ordinance, but voted to make minor adjustments to the proposed law before bringing it back for consideration and another public hearing.
The ordinance includes a number of prohibitions for both pedestrians within a right-of-way and vehicle passengers that would make it illegal activity for both parties to interact and pass or exchange items.
The ordinance would also prohibit standing, sitting or otherwise remaining within a roadway or median not wider than 10 feet for any reason other than crossing the street, and makes considerations for activity on or near roads based on vehicle speed, traffic volume and lighting conditions, among other factors.
All six of Wednesday’s public speakers were in opposition. Four of the six emails received in advance of the meeting were in opposition.
The other two, from Star City Police Chief Jessica Colebank and Mon EMS Executive Director Forest Weyen, were largely neutral, and offered changes that would make a first offense a warning instead of a citation and add language acknowledging first responders must often interact with people within a right of way.
The body agreed to incorporate both changes before bringing the issue back.
Commission President Tom Bloom was the only person who spoke in support of the ordinance.
In fact, Wednesday’s proceedings were somewhat unusual in that Bloom is the petitioner presenting the bill to the commission for consideration.
Bloom turned the gavel over to Commissioner Sean Sikora to conduct the public hearing. Following the meeting, Bloom said the commission is seeking legal guidance on whether he can even vote on the matter.
Bloom explained that the law came about through a collaborative effort involving all governmental bodies and law enforcement agencies in the county and has been thoroughly vetted by “several law firms.”
He also reiterated his belief that it doesn’t outlaw or even target panhandling or limit protected free speech, but outlaws anyone from doing anything while standing in a highway median.
“This one meets the standards in the three areas – it treats everyone equitably, [it’s] content neutral and does not discriminate,” he said. “This is a safety issue, and this is why I’m proposing it.”
Local attorney and business owner Lindsey Jacobs disagreed, noting that prior to the early July shift away from the word “panhandling” the proposed law was widely discussed as a panhandling ordinance.
“So, despite what you’re calling it now and despite this recent pivot, you yourself have created a massive track record that, frankly, could be used against you when this does go to litigation that points out that this, in fact, is not content neutral,” she said.
“So we feel very confident that if you pass this, you’re going to end up in protracted litigation that will be appealed until it can’t be appealed anymore to protect the free speech rights of the folks that live in Monongalia County.”
