City right to appeal ruling in ACLU soliciting lawsuit

Way for the city of Albuquerque to stick to its guns on an important public safety issue rather than kowtowing to special interests.

Journal writer Jessica Dyer reported Oct. 11 the city plans to appeal a federal judge’s ruling on the pedestrian safety ordinance that the American Civil Liberties Union has painted as an anti-panhandling ordinance that criminalizes poverty.

Since there’s a bit of clever wordsmithing going on in this debate, let’s clarify: Of course this ordinance — which made it illegal for people to stand in travel lanes, along interstate ramps and on some medians before enforcement was put on hold pending the outcome of litigation — would impact panhandlers holding signs asking for handouts from motorists. But that doesn’t mean it’s not well-named as a pedestrian safety ordinance.

Anybody spending any amount of time in or alongside busy roadways is taking their safety into their own hands. Last year in New Mexico, more than 400 pedestrians were hit by cars; 34 of them died, and 31 of those fatalities were caused by “pedestrian error.” Panhandlers are risking life and limb to ask for a dollar — but so are kids holding signs for fundraising car washes, vendors hawking T-shirts outside concert venues and folks with buckets running low-tech crowdsourcing campaigns. Free speech doesn’t allow you to run amok on the tarmac at airports or on train tracks — why should high-speed roadways be any different?

While Councilor Pat Davis is right to look for short-term, less controversial ways to address the problem — enforcement of jaywalking and other such laws — Councilor Trudy Jones is also right to support an appeal to clarify and craft a long-lasting solution.