LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance that city officials said is meant to curb aggressive soliciting, but opponents said it’s aimed at the homeless and they intend to challenge the new rules.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen first brought the ordinance to the council May 17, at which point its first reading and approval took place, as Lake County News has reported: www.bit.ly/1THqL4V .
The second and final approval of the new ordinance on Tuesday came at the end of nearly two hours of public input and council discussion on the ordinance.
Community members who opposed it said was an attack on the increasingly visible homeless population in the city, and would cause the homeless to go back into hiding at the same time as efforts are increasing to help them.
City officials countered that it was not pointed at the homeless, but the growth in recent years of aggressive panhandling in parts of the city near businesses – particularly, around Safeway on 11th Street – as well as disreputable out-of-state companies that have been dropping off carloads of salespeople to go door to door in city neighborhoods.
Rasmussen and his staff worked with David Ruderman, the city attorney, on the ordinance, which is based on one in effect in the city of Grass Valley. Rasmussen's staff report and the ordinance can be found beginning on page 31 of the agenda packet shown below.
Ruderman said the ordinance places restrictions on time, place and manner on the activities, not on the content of speech.
The ordinance’s language notes that anyone who violates it is guilty of a misdemeanor. During the meeting Ruderman explained that the maximum penalty would be a fine of up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail. However, he said the city’s administrative remedies allow for simple fines and citations.
Rasmussen said he had looked at numerous other solicitation ordinances and he felt this one was the most enforceable and sound, lacked constitutional issues and did the best job of balancing all of the interests.
In response to issues raised during the meeting about the ordinance not being needed due to existing penal codes, Ruderman said the ordinance offered another approach because of the barriers to enforcing certain penal code sections with regard to solicitation.
The new rules require people to apply for a free permit. At the time of permitting, rules would be issued so people understand the kind of behavior that isn't allowable, Ruderman said.
Applicants must provide personal information including a name and address. If they can't provide and address, Rasmussen said they must articulate the reasons why but could still receive the permits.
Initially, the permit length was to last between 30 days and six months at the discretion of the city manager, but at Councilwoman Mireya Turner’s request the length of the permit was extended up to a year. Rasmussen also agreed to work to streamline the permit process.
Rasmussen said aggressive panhandling that interferes with the rights of others is illegal. He added that the ordinance does not impact signature gatherers or religious activities, which are expressly protected activities as the result of legal rulings.
Altogether, 16 people spoke during public comment, two for the ordinance and 14 against it.
The opposition was led by Rev. Shannon Kimbell-Auth, pastor of United Christian Parish in Lakeport, a homeless advocate who was instrumental in the running of a warming shelter in the north Lakeport area for the first three months of the year. She was accompanied at the meeting by a number of her parishioners, who also spoke against the ordinance.
Objections raised against the ordinance alleged a violation of the First Amendment and creating a way to harass the poor.
One of the two who spoke for it, Richard Grahn, said he is “somewhat homeless” but he doesn’t solicit people because he’s busy trying to find work. He added that some of the people who are panhandling at Safeway aren’t looking for jobs, and he’s encountered the aggressive solicitors. He said the permit would show legitimacy.
Nathan Maxman said he wasn’t opposed to the ordinance but rather to the permitting process and its requirements for a name, address and phone number, which a lot of homeless people don’t have.
He also questioned if the ordinance would be enforced in an even-handed manner, with the Girl Scouts and the VFW checked for compliance or if it would just be the homeless who would be held to the rules.
Kimbell-Auth said the ordinance “concerns me deeply” because she believed it targeted the homeless, and pointed to Penal Code Section 647c as a existing way of dealing with aggressive panhandlers.
“My concern is this won't be done fairly, across the board,” she said, and that compliance would be beyond the capacity of the homeless.
Taylor Johnson, who also worked as a volunteer at the warming shelter, voiced her opposition to the ordinance.
She said it would only encourage homeless individuals to hide, a hindrance to the work to connect them to services and assistance. “What will end up happening is it will cause a very hostile environment for homeless people in public areas.”
Jeff Markham, who spent decades in law enforcement, also felt sufficient laws already are on the books to deal with the solicitation issues.
The ordinance, Markham said, is really about moving the homeless around, and keeping them away from tourists, which he called “white lining.”
Randy Brehms, pastor of the Lakeport Seventh-day Adventist Church that hosted the warming shelter, asked the council not to put up impediments that hurt the homeless but to deal with the issue. He said the ordinance is not the answer.
Lakeport Police Lt. Jason Ferguson explained that the department is dealing with a lot of calls regarding solicitation and many of the calls are about events that take place on private property at places like Safeway. Because it’s on private property, there isn’t a lot police currently can do unless the property owner takes action first.
He acknowledged that homelessness is a big issue they're dealing with, and he completely understood why people feel the way they do. He said the ordinance was based on a concern for public safety.
He said the fines in the ordinance would only be for those who don't get permits, and fines wouldn't even be given out in every case.
Rasmussen said that the ordinance gives police the option of dealing with the situation through the administrative citation process, rather than the criminal process such as would be required with using Penal Code Section 647c. He said they were not trying to get people fined or charged, and reiterated the desire to stop the aggressive panhandling activities in the city.
He added, “I'm also hearing a lot about homelessness, and I appreciate everybody's comments, and I totally agree, we have a serious issue that needs to be solved. The government and the community is going to have to come together and work together or we're never going to solve it – ever.”
Rasmussen said the ordinance wasn't brought forward to solve the homeless issue, going on to explain that most of the aggressive panhandlers his department has dealt with have not been homeless.
He described a situation last week in which he responded to Safeway on the report of panhandlers being verbally abusive. The panhandlers in question were not homeless and had other jobs, but were trying to make extra money.
Rasmussen also described the issue with door-to-door sales, noting companies from out of state have been coming to the city with vanloads of people to go from house to house selling merchandise.
“This also will see seek to regulate that as well,” he said of the door-to-door sales.
Councilman Kenny Parlet, who owns a grocery store in Lucerne, said the ordinance offered a different process for police. He described dealing with shoplifters and having to have his manager make a complaint before police could take action.
Rasmussen agreed, noting that the ordinance allows police to deal with the situation administratively, which means they can take action to stop the behavior or issue a citation without actually having to see the violation. Parlet added that it also means they don't have to put anyone under citizen's arrest, as would be required under PC 647c.
Kimbell-Auth said if the ordinance was truly to deal with such aggressive behavior, it would just address the behavior and not panhandling or require permitting. She said removing those sections of the ordinance would solve her objection.
Mary Kay Hauptman also objected to the ordinance. “This is too broad and too dangerous,” she said. “This could be misused enormously.”
Rasmussen said he appreciated the comments from the community, explaining it wasn’t his goal to infringe on free speech rights or to cause panhandling to go away entirely. “We just want to be able to regulate the behavior that is causing the complaints, that's it. In my opinion, that's what this ordinance is about.”
Council members agreed with Rasmussen about the impetus of the issue, with Councilwoman Stacey Mattina raising the public safety issue. She said the city had to take action when residents and tourists start to lose enjoyment of public spaces, adding the ordinance won’t solve the homeless problem or make it go away.
City Manager Margaret Silveira added that the city would offer information about assistance to any homeless people who do approach the city to ask for a permit.
Turner moved to approve the ordinance, which the council approved 5-0.
The ordinance will go into effect 30 days from adoption.
However, those who oppose it already are raising the potential for legal challenges to the new ordinance.
A late Tuesday night post by Kimbell-Auth on the United Christian Parish Facebook page warned the Lakeport City Council, “You made a bad decision here and ultimately it will be overturned on Constitutional grounds because it’s not about law or freedom, but what people are uncomfortable with.”
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Lakeport City Council approves ordinance requiring permits for soliciting; homeless advocates plan challenge
- Elizabeth Larson
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