It’s one of the country’s most lauded downtown stretches, but debate has heightened over street performers, the homeless, and panhandlers in recent years. Now, Saratoga Springs’ infamous sidewalk law may be revised. A public hearing on the measure was held Tuesday night in City Council chambers.
Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen, who brought the bill forward last spring, is seeking to make the law that bans obstructing the public right of way by lying or sitting on a city sidewalk easier to understand.
“The original ordinance said ‘It should be unlawful for any person to sit or lie down upon a public sidewalk in the City of Saratoga Springs.’ The revised ordinance would say, ‘It shall be unlawful for any person to obstruct a public walkway by sitting or lying down upon the surface of a public sidewalk in the City of Saratoga Springs,’” said Mathiesen.
Mathiesen is also proposing to tweak the punishments carried by the law. Currently, a first offense after a verbal warning would carry a fine of $50 to $100 and/or community service. The new version would carry a fine of no more than $50.
A second offense within 24 hours could lead to a fine between $300 and $500. Subsequent offenses could lead to a fine between $400 and $500 or imprisonment of no more than 30 days.
Mathiesen called the language “exceptionally cruel” and said for subsequent offenses it would be amended to keep in line with violations under the city’s street performers law.
But for some the changes don’t go far enough. The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the original law and city resident Carl Strock delivered a statement on behalf of the organization on the proposed revisions Tuesday night.
“The amended proposal tweaks the law’s exceptions and penalties but makes no meaningful substantive change to the version that passed in June. It is essentially the same law with the same purpose: to punish homelessness,” said Strock.
Strock said the law is in the “same spirit” of anti-homelessness laws passed in Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, and Boise, Idaho.
“Such laws are part of an ugly national trend. They are band-aids enacted by municipalties that have failed to address the real problems of homelessness and inequality,” said Strock.
Mathiesen said the intent of the law was never intended to target the homeless or any specific population in the city.
The City Council approved a law to regulate where, how loud, and when musicians and artists could perform in the spring of 2015.
Mayor Joanne Yepsen, the lone vote against the sidewalk law last spring, defended the street performers law.
“We want to encourage artists, we want to encourage performers. And that law seems to be working just fine. But the sit/lie law is going to be another discussion for our next meeting,” said Yepsen.
The City Council meets next on Tuesday, November 15th.
