11-26-01 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 26, 2001 surrounding towns. A revitalized downtown that is attractive to area residents who may not even work there is likely to encourage residential development around the central area and stabilize or increase property values in adjacent neighborhoods. The intent of prohibiting panhandling in the Central Business and Entertainment Area is to provide residents and visitors in this specific part of our City with an environment of both real and perceived safety and security where social, business, cultural, and recreational opportunities can be maximized while eliminating nuisance activities that negatively affect this kind of social and economic interaction. Second, the ordinance would prohibit aggressive solicitation throughout the City. The kind of solicitation that constitutes a nuisance because it instills fear in others. The intent of this portion of the ordinance is to penalize abusive behavior of this kind that intimidates individuals near automated teller machines, on sidewalks, in alleys, and at intersections while motorists and pedestrians are stopped. By prohibiting panhandling in the Central Business and Entertainment Area, the ordinance aims to address the secondary negative effects of such conduct on the employers, employees and patrons of businesses and visitors to the area. And, this portion of the ordinance would serve the City's interest in providing a safe and pleasant environment by eliminating nuisance activities in such a critical area for investment, economic and social activity in South Bend. Panhandling would be permitted elsewhere in the City as long as it is non hostile and nonaggressive. The second portion of the ordinance would give an additional tool that can be used to deal with the problems of aggressive solicitation and panhandling. Councilmember King noted that some years ago, UCLA Professor James Wilson, who coauthored with Mr. George Kelling, the famous Atlantic Magazine article entitled "Broken Windows ", made a statement that "serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked. No single act of panhandling, loitering, or public drunkenness is especially worrisome, but a series of such acts carried on simultaneously by many people is felt by most citizens to be deeply threatening." Councilmember King noted that he and Councilmember Pfeifer believe that the phenomenon Professor Wilson was referring to is now affecting South Bend and it is time to put a stop to it. Therefore, they encourage the Council to support this bill in order to provide citizens and visitors with a safe environment for their social, business, cultural and recreational activities. This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard. Mr. John Baxter, Executive Director, Center City Associates, 205 North Main Street, South Bend, Indiana, advised that CCA is an organization dedicated to making downtown South Bend stronger. Over the past three (3) years they have interviewed about five hundred (500) building and business owners in the downtown area and one (1) of the questions they ask them is what they would do to improve downtown South Bend. Almost every one of those businesses or building owners has said that they would like to see something done about the panhandling problem. Mr. Baxter also advised that they manage three (3) surface parking lots in the downtown area and they get quite a few calls to their office from parkers who say that there are days that they will be aggressively solicited by panhandlers when they show up in the morning to go to work, during their lunch hour and at the end of the day. Center City Associates is very much in favor of this ordinance and they feel that it will make downtown South Bend a much stronger place to work, live, shop and play. Mr. Dan Chambliss, a resident of Robertson's Apartments, South Bend, Indiana, advised that he is in favor of this ordinance but would like to see some type of addendum added on that would also include loitering and noise nuisance. He advised that during the two (2) years that he has lived in his apartment in the Robertson's building, they have had an ongoing problem with noise from the various businesses, more specifically the nightclubs. They have talked on numerous occasions to the different owners and most of the problems come from the fact that they leave their doors open while in operation. Therefore, the sound reverberates throughout the whole corridor of Michigan Avenue up to the sixth and seventh floors of the Robertson's Apartments. Mr. Chambliss stated that there is a lot of traffic going back and forth and people loitering at the clubs after the clubs are in