‘Civility’ rule in place but hard to enforce

Near Northside residents won unanimous City Council approval Wednesday to extend rules barring sitting, lying or sleeping on sidewalks during daytime in their neighborhood, though no one involved expects this “civility” regime to truly address civic leaders’ concerns about transients undermining the area’s quality of life.

Neighbors took up a petition last summer after a local boy was stabbed to death on his way home from school, allegedly by a man police say had been staying at a Salvation Army outpost in the area. That 300-bed shelter, which has operated on North Main for four decades, has combined with other bunk houses and free feeding sites and the neighborhood’s 3-year-old light rail line, residents say, to flood their neighborhood with vagrants.

Shopkeepers say they witness open-air sex acts and drug deals on the sidewalks and have demanded action from City Hall. One way to get results, they decided last summer, was to circulate the petition required to extend the city’s “civility” rules to their area, culminating in Wednesday’s unanimous council vote.

The rules are effective between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., though even boosters of the idea question whether it will truly be effective at all.

Salvation Army representatives said their programs are aimed at getting the homeless off the streets and into housing and have welcomed increased police presence in the area.

The civility ordinance has been in effect in the Central Business District, Midtown, Old Sixth Ward, Avondale and Greater Hyde Park since 2002, and in 2011 was extended to the east downtown area.

Councilwoman Karla Cisneros, who represents the area and surrounding District H, joined several colleagues in suggesting they examine the civility ordinance to see if it can be improved and, perhaps, extended citywide.

“Is it a comprehensive solution? Not at all. It does not actually solve or address the root causes. Will it help a little bit? Yes, I believe it will,” she said. “It gives the police officers another tool they don’t currently have. I think it will help some; I don’t think it will help a whole lot.”

Mayor Sylvester Turner said he has asked his staff to study broader fixes and solicited council members’ input. He also warned against criminalizing the homeless, conflating those with mental illnesses with pandandlers.