WETHERSFIELD, Conn. — The town of Wethersfield will decide Monday whether to move forward with a controversial ordinance that would effectively ban panhandling.
The town council will vote if they want to give this issue a public hearing ahead of a final vote set for June 6th.
The Silas Deane highway at the intersection with Jordan Lane is a notorious spot where panhandlers can be seen frequently, sometimes four at a time, operating in a coordinated fashion sometimes getting dropped off by cars with out-of-state license plates.
The owner of The Cove Deli in Wethersfield was making his lunch deliveries one day when the car in front of him came to a full stop on a green arrow to hand a panhandler some change. His sandwiches went flying.
“It was just a stressful incident and unfortunately I got upset about it and I posted something on Facebook,” said John Kocur.
His post got nearly 100 comments. “People thought that I was bashing homeless people or people who are struggling, that's not the case,” added Kocur.
John’s story also caught the attention of town officials.
“That’s what spearheaded this,” remarked Mike Rell, the Mayor of Wethersfield.
The ordinance is generically titled, the ‘Pedestrians interfering with the flow of traffic’ ordinance. It’s Wethersfield’s way of effectively banning panhandling.
“For us, it’s a safety issue,” added Mayor Rell.
Incidents of aggressive panhandling in Wethersfield have been on the rise.
“A lot of these folks have some type of drug issue and they collect the money and use it to pay any outstanding debts that they owe,” said Mayor Rell.
But traffic islands are public property, and holding a sign is free speech. So is it constitutional?
"Ordinances that ban panhandling have usually not fared well in the Supreme Court," said Elana Bildner, an attorney for the ACLU of Connecticut
The ACLU of Connecticut says the ordinance is so vague that it could lead to profiling or banning other forms of speech.
“Girl Scouts selling cookies on the side of the highway, a kid with a lemonade stand, a school club trying to do a car wash,” said Bildner.
“Obviously we don’t want to impede on anyone’s freedom of speech,” said Lt. Michael Wren of Wethersfield Police Department responded.
Wethersfield Police would be responsible for the enforcement. A $50 fine for those asking for money.
“We write a ticket. They might not have the means to pay for it. Where does it go from there, to be honest? I don’t have an answer for that,” said Lt. Wren.
Mayor Rell noted this ordinance isn’t really about enforcement, it’s about sending a message. None of the panhandlers FOX61 encountered wanted to talk about the issue.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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