SOME SAY PROPOSED RULES TARGET POOR: ANTI-LOITERING, PANHANDLING ORDINANCES
UNDER HEAT

NORWALK -- A proposed anti-loitering ordinance and recent passage of
legislation cracking down on panhandling have some community leaders
concerned the city council is treading dangerously close to voilating the
civil rights of the poor and minorities.

"The belief down here on the street is that developers are moving in and
they want a lot of folks down here out," said Common Councilman Carvin
Hilliard, a Democrat who represents the predominantly minority and
low-income neighborhoods of South Norwalk. "And when you propose ordinances
such as those, it kind of reinforces that."

Abraham Heisler, a Norwalk housing law attorney, also challenged the
legislation.

"The law already says you can't create a public disturbance or engage in
disorderly conduct," Heisler said. "So why do we need new statutes unless
it's to keep poor people out of designated parts of town?"

Proponents such as Democrat Michael Coffey, chairman of the council's
Ordinance Committee, argue the ordinances have "nothing to do with pushing
poor out of neighborhoods."

"It has to do with improving the quality of life for every citizen of
Norwalk," Coffey said. "Statutes such as these make Norwalk a safer and a
better place."

Passed by the council in December, the anti-panhandling ordinance levies a
$99 fine on individuals found guilty of "aggressive solicitation,"
including continually asking for money despite refusals and intimidating
pedestrians by following or touching them or blocking their path.

The loitering legislation, currently being reviewed by Coffey's Ordinance
Committee, forbids "any person to loiter or congregate upon any public
street or sidewalk or other public place in such a manner as to obstruct
vehicular or pedestrian traffic" and requires anyone doing so to move when
ordered by police.

The ordinance also would allow police to target convicted drug dealers or
drug purchasers who appear to be engaging in those activities. Violators
who refuse police requests to leave could face a $99 fine.

Although both ordinances apply to the entire city, the neighborhood
commonly mentioned in discussion of the new laws is SoNo.

Concentrated in the area of Washington, North Main and Water streets, SoNo
is South Norwalk's most northerly neighborhood, and since the 1980s has
been an island of upscale restaurants, bars, boutiques, pricey apartments
and office space.

The gentrification is expected to expand once the new police headquarters
opens this spring just below Washington Street at South Main and Monroe
streets.

The anti-panhandling and anti-loitering ordinances have been written in
direct response to SoNo business owners' complaints about such activities
in municipal parking lots or on public sidewalks outside of their shops
affecting customers.

Former Mayor William Collins, a Democrat elected in the late 1970s and
again in the mid-1980s, said the ordinances reflect a tension between
visitors to SoNo and greater South Norwalk's lower income population that
has existed for 25 years.

Collins recalled a debate about installing benches along Washington Street
and whether it would "attract people with nothing better to do who might be
a negative (effect) on redevelopment."

He said ordinances regulating activities such as loitering cause his
"antennae to go up."

"The people who live around (SoNo) or come in on business and want to be
entertained there are somewhat dissuaded by the fact they have to share the
turf with some very poor people," Collins said. "My feeling about that is
'tough.' . . . We go to SoNo a fair amount, and I personally find it
uplifting watching rich and poor sharing the sidewalk. It doesn't happen in
a lot of towns."

Tom Becker, a member of the South Norwalk Business Association, said the
point of the ordinances is "to allow everybody to co-exist comfortably."
Becker said he has been the victim of a panhandler who refused to let go of
his car door in SoNo's Webster Street parking lot.

"That's aggressive and that's when someone's rights are violated," he said.
"And sometimes on weekends you'll have a dozen high school kids hanging out
on a street corner, particularly around a movie theater, for hours on end .
. . It can be uncomfortable for anybody walking through a crowd of 12 kids.
We're hoping for an ordinance where a cop can say, 'Keep moving.' "

Others say such ordinances create a slippery slope.

"You have the war on drugs, efforts to curb street gangs and the
complicating factor of dealing with the homeless," said Manny Margolis, an
attorney and civil rights activist from Westport. "Cities and towns are
busying themselves trying to write laws to give the police the authority to
clean up the streets. That sounds very good and very reassuring, as do so
many things in our times of stress over safety and security. But it has
potential for over-reaching . . . It's the poor who will get hurt here and,
in towns like Norwalk, it will be minorities, more often than not

. . . Folks very comfortable living in their houses are not the ones who
are going to be victimized or endangered by an ordinance of this kind."

In passing the panhandling ordinance, members of the Democrat-majority
Common Council and police department emphasized that individuals have the
right to ask for money and that the rule would only apply to aggressive
begging.

The loitering ordinance also would allow the city to post signs declaring
public properties closed during nighttime hours. A homeless person wanting
to spend a night on a park bench could easily be tossed out by police.

Police Chief Harry Rilling said most parks in the city already close at
sunset or midnight, but not all are posted as such.

"It's unfair if it's not posted and the police officer says 'You can't be
here.' This makes it a little bit clearer," Rilling said.

Rilling said it is unreasonable to expect "unlimited, unchecked use of
public property" during evening hours, particularly when his department
receives so many complaints about illegal activities in parks or on school
grounds.

"Parks are dark; they offer the opportunity and cover for anybody wishing
to engage in inappropriate behavior or criminal activity," Rilling said.
"They can't be patrolled 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Hilliard has a concern about the loitering ordinance's focus on known drug
dealers or drug buyers.

"While certainly I want to crack down on drugs . . . we don't want the
police to think it's open season on our young people," Hilliard said. "It's
overkill."

Rilling said police officers know the difference between potential drug
dealing and casual exchanges. "Repeatedly signaling vehicles, walking to a
vehicle on the street, a quick exchange," Rilling said. "If you wave down
your friend, he pulls over and gives you a ride, the officer's not going to
chase you down the street."

If Norwalk intends to pursue such ordinances, Margolis said, the Common
Council not only needs to ensure they are clearly written with no vague
language, but legislators should go "the extra mile" to solicit public
input before voting.

When hearings were held on the panhandling ordinances, the only members of
the public to speak were Becker and Rilling.

But a lack of attendance should not be construed as supporting a new law,
Margolis said.

"You have a hearing, but there are folks who aren't aware of it; a lot
don't read the newspaper," Margolis said. "Reach out to welfare
organizations, poverty organizations, minority organizations and invite
them to be heard so they're going the extra mile to get input from the
people most likely to be affected."

Carole Antonetz, director of the Norwalk Homeless Shelter, a few blocks
south of SoNo, said she is aware of the passage of the panhandling
ordinance and the proposed loitering ordinance. However, she said she has
not been motivated to speak against either on behalf of her clients because
the shelter is not in the business of promoting "people hanging around."

"The goal of the shelter is to get everybody involved in a program or
working or doing something," Antonetz said. "We do homeless outreach, going
out into the streets with police officers to determine who's out there
(and) offer services to them."

The Rev. Lindsay Curtis, president of the Norwalk branch of the NAACP, said
though he believes some civil libertarians' negative views of such laws
"are a little radical," he does have concerns such ordinances target
certain parts of the community "not necessarily racially, but certainly
economically."

"Is this loitering ordinance going to apply to everybody?" Curtis said. "If
there are 10 business people on the corner dressed up in suits versus a
group of young people on the other corner, who do you move?"

If panhandling and youth loitering is such a problem that it needs to be
regulated, Curtis said, the city should seek other solutions to the
problem. Building a youth center, for example, might keep teenagers from
congregating on the streets, he said.

"If we're going to take the time to work up ordinances, we need to look at
alternatives," he said.