A proposed ordinance being reviewed by Burlington City Councilors could ban people from sitting on the sidewalks of five key downtown streets that feed onto the Church Street Marketplace.
The ban would also extend to sandwich board signs or other types of advertising, though it would allow any existing licensed “encumbrances” to continue until their license expires.
The Burlington City Council Monday night agreed to send the proposed ordinance to its Ordinance Committee for review. The three-member committee is chaired by Councilor Joan Shannon (D-Ward 5), and includes Councilors Sharon Bushor (I-Ward 1) and Bram Kranichfeld (D-Ward 2).
The ordinance would create a “right of way” extending six feet from the edge of buildings, and would mirror existing bans on the Church Street Marketplace. The Marketplace “right-of-way” extends nine feet from the edge of buildings.
The affected streets would be Pearl, Cherry, Bank, College and Main Streets between South Winooski Avenue and St. Paul Street.
The proposed ordinance was crafted “in response to a variety of complaints and concerns about persons seated, laying down, and in a host of other stationary positions on the sidewalks in the downtown,” wrote Police Chief Michael Schirling in a memo to councilors.
Hmm, I wonder what “other stationary positions” look like.
The proposal, according to Schirling, would be a “pilot project” to keep the sidewalks free for all pedestrians, including the elderly and disabled.
The intent of the ordinance, as drafted, reads, in part: “This section is enacted to protect the public safety and to provide for unencumbered passage for pedestrians and disabled citizens … and to promote the economic vitality of the downtown area.”
It would also likely curb the kind of panhandling downtown pedestrians pass by on several downtown routes. Seven Days staffer Andy Bromage tackled the subject in this week’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, asking: “Why do panhandlers hang out in that spot on Main Street?”
The answer? According to those Bromage talked to it’s either a good spot to ask for spare change or its simply the sunnier side of the street.
The ordinance is just another in a series of efforts aimed at “cleaning up” downtown Burlington. Earlier this year, the council adopted a smoking ban for the city’s parks and beaches. Church Street was spared from the ban this time, but a previous effort to ban smoking on the Marketplace failed, too. Who knows? Maybe the third time is the charm.
On Monday, too, the council voted 10-4 to oppose the issuance of an Act 250 permit to Phoenix House to operate a 20-bed transitional house on Elmwood Avenue, just a half block from the top of Church Street. The opposition to the proposal was fueled, in part, by downtown business concerns that it would add more “undesirable people” onto the Marketplace and detract shoppers from coming to the pedestrian mall.
Wonder if we’ll see a renewed interest in Westward Ho!, a privately-funded effort in the 1980s that gave certain folks a one-way bus ticket out of town. And, not just Shelburne or Charlotte out of town, but waaayyy out of town.
Photo credit: Andy Bromage.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2010.
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I was just asked for change on Bank Street by the same man I’ve dealt with on my way to work for over a year. I asked the man why he needed money and he said he was 80 cents short of being able to buy a beer. I asked him why he needed a beer to which he replied, “because it’s hot.”The reality is our city has both homeless folks and leeches who will take advantage of the kindness of strangers. We can’t make laws to get rid of either, but we can help the former while discouraging the latter. As a solution, again, I recommend charity donation meters positioned around the city as has been done in other cities (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM8V55_Donation_Meter_Program_Denver_CO). Money donated will go directly to organizations helping to end homelessness. And each cent given means one less cent in the hands of a leech.
Oh — if this ordinance outlaws mimes, I am *all* for it. Glory be to God.
Funny, in the context of certain school scandals occurring in Vermont lately, “Coach Handbags” has a certain perverted ring to it.
…but what does Coach Handbags have to say about all this?
It’s a mistake to assume that she’s homeless. It’s a mistake to assume that she’s not. This proposed ordinance isn’t about homelessness. It’s about how people conduct themselves & treat others in public spaces.
Nah, dollars to donots, the whole shot was staged for the 7dvt ‘story’.
I am an asshole sometimes Matthew, that’s undeniable. But bear in mind I said the shoes say no. The shoes could be wrong. Shoes only tell the truth 90% of the time.
Haik said “Look at the shoes on the girl in the picture. Does she need to be begging? The shoes say no.”Dude , you are a real A-Hole. You think you know someones whole life based on the shoes they are wearing? Even worse you think you can tell that those shoes are expensive? How? Can you read the label? Do you know someone didn’t give them to her? Do you know if she was working two months ago when she bought them and then got laid off? Do you know anything? that one I’ll answer, NO! Give me a break. Take your prejudice and biases to Arizona.
“God-forbid you should have to interact with poor and outcast people twice a day!”Oh the pathos! I’m gnashing my teeth and rending my garments e’en now! Get over yourself you fool. You have no frickin idea whether the street-sitters are homeless or even poor. The woman in the photo above is obviously neither. Your unthinking, pathetic, heart-bleed ideology makes you assume that everyone who isn’t working is poor or homeless. THINK. DON’T ASSUME. THINK. Some people are just lazy. THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO ABOVE DOES NOT NEED TO BEG FOR MONEY.
Look at the shoes on the girl in the picture. Does she need to be begging? The shoes say no.