ALERT: anti-loitering law proposed in Aurora, Colorado FWD

Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Thu, 1 Oct 1998 13:59:14 -0400 

http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0923g.htm
FWD  Denver Post - September 23, 1998


         AURORA MULLS TOUGH ANTI-LOITERING MEASURE

         By Cindy Brovsky, Denver Post Staff Writer


Sept. 23 - AURORA - Some Aurora City Council members couldn't care less if
people think a proposed anti-loitering law is their way to "sweep the
homeless and poor'' off East Colfax Avenue.

"What we need to do is protect the rights of the people who live, work and
play in that area,'' Councilman John Paroske said. "Those people don't need
to be hassled by others who are loitering.''

The city's Public Safety Committee on Tuesday unanimously supported a
proposed anti-loitering law that would allow police to move homeless people
off public plazas in north Aurora. The proposal now will be forwarded to
the council, but it's unknown when the council will act upon it.

If approved, the law would make it illegal for anyone to loiter between 7
a.m. and 9 p.m. along the East Colfax Avenue corridor. Police could stop
people from sitting, kneeling or lying on the sidewalks or streets unless
they are ill. Police also could cite people for "aggressive begging,''
which would include touching, following or using threatening language.

"I don't have any problem saying bums - or whatever they're called these
days - shouldn't be around bothering people on sidewalks,'' Councilman Bob
LeGare said.

Earlier this summer, Councilwomen Nadine Caldwell and Barbara Cleland asked
the city attorney's office to draft a loitering law similar to ones upheld
in court in Seattle and California. Caldwell, who lives in north Aurora,
said she has seen one man bring a lawn chair and sit along the sidewalks
all day.

Other people have approached Caldwell about getting rides or wanting money.

"The neighborhood associations I have talked to are very, very happy that
we are looking at this ordinance,'' Caldwell said.

If approved, it would be the metro area's toughest loitering law.

But Mark Silverstein, legal director for the Colorado office of the
American Civil Liberties Union, said the city's proposal is a "human street
sweeping'' law. Silverstein called Aurora's proposal "a mean-spirited
attempt to get these people off the streets.''

The ACLU was successful in overturning a Denver law that prohibited people
from holding up signs on street corners asking for food or money.

Jack Real of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless said these laws
"unfairly target the poor and homeless in an attempt to "sanitize' our
cities.''

Councilman John McCracken on Tuesday asked why the law wouldn't be citywide
so that police could cite people begging in other sections of the city. But
Assistant City Attorney Dave Lathers said the law has to be narrow or could
be challenged.

East Colfax business owners have been split on the need for a new law. Some
agree it would help keep pedestrians from being harassed, but others say
the city's police foot patrol already addresses individual problems.

"Some businesses have said people have actually come into their shops and
begged customers for money,'' Cleland said. "Something has to be done about
that."

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