MAYOR VETOES LOITERING ORDINANCE

"After considerable anguish and debate," Madison Mayor Sue Bauman vetoed
today a provision that would extend the city's controversial anti-loitering
ordinance indefinitely.

"An extraordinary number of citations are issued to people of color - in
percentages not only far exceeding their percentage in the city of Madison,
but also far in excess of the population density of people of color in the
neighborhoods affected," Bauman wrote in her veto message.

Enacted in 1997, the ordinance makes it illegal to loiter for the purpose
of illegal drug sales.

The City Council voted 11-7 last week to remove a sunset provision and
extend the law indefinitely. Bauman's action means the law will sunset on
March 6, unless the City Council takes further action.

In her message, Bauman urged council members to adopt an amendment to the
ordinance that would extend the sunset provision for one year and
"challenge the police department to find alternative ways to approach the
problem that this ordinance was intended to address."

"If I were certain that members of the council would review the annual
report and consider repealing the ordinance based on its contents, I would
not have concluded that a veto of the council action was appropriate," she
wrote further. "I have seen, however, too many reports be received by the
council without discussion, without debate, without consideration of what
was contained in them, or what the material meant."

Although civil rights advocates argue that the ordinance unfairly targets
minorities, many residents of challenged neighborhoods say they welcome it
as a way to control drug sales.

In 2001, 80 percent of the citations issued under the law were given to
African-Americans, even though they account for less than 7 percent of the
city's population. In 2000, African-Americans received 87 percent of the
citations under the ordinance.