State ACLU targets laws against panhandling
Santa Fe’s mayor gets letter about ordinance that bans ‘aggressive’ begging
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico on Tuesday announced a new initiative targeting panhandling ordinances in 10 towns and cities across the state, including Santa Fe, Española and Los Alamos.
“Laws that criminalize people simply for being poor or homeless don’t belong on the books anywhere in our state,” said Peter Simonson, executive director of the ACLU of New Mexico.
“We’re sending a strong message to cities with panhandling bans that people have a First Amendment right to ask for help in public spaces,” Simonson said. “Our communities should focus their efforts on tackling the underlying causes of poverty and homelessness, not criminalizing the symptoms.”
One local man who has made a living by collecting spare change for the past couple of years agreed. Panhandlers, said 65-year-old veteran Doug Palermo, “are hurting no one. Why would [the city] want to wait and be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars?”
The organization sent letters to the mayors of the targeted cities demanding they work to repeal their panhandling restrictions.
The ACLU’s letter to Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said the city’s ordinance “not only unfairly targets poor and homeless persons whose pleas for assistance are protected by the First Amendment, but it is also legally indefensible. … “While the process of repeal is unfolding, law enforcement should be instructed not to enforce this ordinance.”
Matt Ross, a spokesman for Webber, said Tuesday, “We got the letter this morning and we’re working with the City Attorney’s Office and the police department to review it. We’ll have a response as soon as we
complete that review.”
In 2010, the city outlawed “aggressive” panhandling by people who block sidewalks, use foul language or touch the people they are soliciting. The ordinance also prohibits begging from traffic medians or near automatic teller machines, bus stops and parking lots.
In September 2017, City Councilors Signe Lindell and Renee Villarreal — who represent the downtown business district — proposed even stricter language in the ordinance, including a ban on panhandling within 20 feet of any business. That proposal never got out of the city Public Safety Committee.
“We heard from the ACLU right away,” Lindell said Tuesday. “We retreated after that.”
Lindell said she has not received many complaints from constituents regarding panhandling in recent months.
Palermo told The New Mexican in an interview earlier this summer that he’s “not living in an [expletive] cardboard box” but started begging to supplement his Social Security income, which wasn’t enough to cover his rent payment and other expenses. He complained that city police have been harassing him, and that the harassment has escalated in the past year.
He’s received two citations for panhandling, he said Tuesday. “But I beat them both.”
Palermo carries a copy of the city’s panhandling ordinance to show officers that he is following the law. He once told a city prosecutor that the ordinance was unconstitutional, he said, to which the prosecutor responded: “It’s not unconstitutional here.”
Palermo panhandles by stop signs, which is permitted under the city ordinance, he said. “The cops try to say I’m impeding traffic, but I’m not impeding anything.”
He usually has a handwritten sign that reads, “It’s a sad day when a disabled veteran is reduced to panhandling on street corners.”
Greg Gurulé, a spokesman for the Santa Fe Police Department, declined to comment on questions about the panhandling issue, instead referring The New Mexican to city spokesman Ross.
Besides the cities in Northern New Mexico, the ACLU is targeting Artesia, Elephant Butte, Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Mesilla, Rio Rancho and Silver City.
In January, the organization sued the city of Albuquerque in federal court over its panhandling ordinance, which was passed by the City Council in November. The Albuquerque law was framed as a pedestrian safety matter, prohibiting panhandling on the sides of freeway entrances, exit ramps and medians. It also outlaws giving food, money or other items to panhandlers from a vehicle in those prohibited areas.
In February, the city agreed not to enforce the new ordinance while the lawsuit is pending.
The ACLU already has prompted one New Mexico town to repeal its panhandling law. Last year, Gallup got rid of its ordinance after the organization called the measure unconstitutional.
The push against panhandling restrictions is part of a national effort by 18 organizations in 12 states targeting more than 240 similar ordinances. It’s part of a program called the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign, which is supported by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, the National Coalition for the Homeless and more than 100 other organizations.