On the eve of the coming winter, the Democratic-majority Albuquerque City Council has passed what is euphemistically called the “Pedestrian Safety Ordinance” as a way of criminalizing panhandlers and attempting to push poverty out of sight.
Essentially, the ordinance prohibits pedestrians from standing on sidewalks and medians at busy intersections, as well as to the side of ramps on and off freeways, and attempting to interact with drivers. The bill states that it not only applies to panhandlers, but to other groups such as firefighters and Girl Scouts soliciting donations, though there is also a clause that permits the latter to do business so long as they don’t block the sidewalk. It also outlaws drivers interacting with pedestrians (i.e. giving panhandlers money, food or water), and drivers who violate the ordinance can be cited, even fined.
The line used to push the ordinance was concern for the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists, given the high number of fatal accidents in Albuquerque involving vehicles hitting and killing them.
Of course, despite the polite language used to dress up this legislation as a measure of public safety, it obviously targets Albuquerque’s significant homeless population. Organizations asking for donations rarely must resort to public spaces such as sidewalks and can almost always gain permission from businesses and other private property owners to conduct fundraisers. The homeless, on the other hand, cannot.
This ordinance is especially cruel given that its passing is timed with the coming of winter, when the homeless are most in need of assistance. Panhandlers will be “kept safe” from hit-and-runs so that they can starve and die from exposure out of the public eye.
The ordinance excludes driver-pedestrian interaction in instances of work or where profit for a business is involved, such as in drive-throughs or with construction workers, who are almost always interacting with traffic.
Albuquerque has a history of legislation that aggressively attacks the homeless. Passed more than a decade ago, the “Aggressive Panhandling Ordinance” outlawed anyone asking for money outside of businesses or private establishments. In addition, during his time in office, former mayor Richard Berry oversaw the shutdown of various drug rehabilitation and mental health facilities, leaving the homeless with special health needs at the mercy of the police or dependent on charitable faith-based organizations, some of which place conditions on the provision of aid.
Now the local government is outlawing the needy asking for help in public spaces as well.
Those criticizing the ordinance point out it violates free speech rights and is vague about what behavior is or is not illegal. It also does not specify punishment.
Trudy Jones, the Republican city councilor who sponsored the ordinance, is an avid supporter of the Albuquerque Police Department, one of the most violent in the nation (New Mexico has one of the highest rates of police officer-involved killings in the country). In response to another city councilor asking whether the ordinance was enforceable, Jones enthusiastically responded, “Yes, this is an enforceable ordinance and they [APD] are more than willing to enforce it.”
APD is notorious for brutalizing and violating the rights of homeless people, especially Native Americans as well as those that struggle with addiction or mental health issues.
The rogue character of APD burst into the public eye in the spring of 2014 after they slaughtered a homeless man, James Boyd, for “illegal camping” in the foothills of the Manzano Mountains.
The “Pedestrian Safety Ordinance” has absolutely nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with reactionary solutions to the socioeconomic problems created by capitalism. If the class of business and private property owners and their lapdogs in local government truly cared for the safety of homeless people, they would immediately enact state-funded programs to guarantee a home, a job with a living wage and all other life-sustaining necessities to all those suffering homelessness. Nobody then would have to resort to panhandling. Instead, they have passed legislation designed to get the homeless off the streets, by either killing them or putting them in jail, so that they can dress up the city for prospective outside business owners and developers.
If we had a socialist economy, that is a planned economy run by the working class and designed to meet the needs of the people, housing and employment would be constitutional rights.
If we are ever to see homelessness permanently eradicated, we need a revolution in the United States!
