February 1, 2012
Two weeks after their lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville was dismissed, a group of panhandlers have filed an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The appeal was filed Wednesday by attorney Jeffrey Fogel on behalf of Albert Clatterbuck, Christopher Martin, Earl McGraw, John Jordan and Michael Sloan, most of whom are homeless. The five originally filed a lawsuit last summer arguing that the city's panhandling ordinance on the Downtown Mall is unconstitutional and discriminates against homeless panhandlers.
The city's request to have the lawsuit dismissed was granted by Judge Norman Moon on Jan. 18. In his opinion, Judge Moon wrote, "The ordinance does not distinguish between favored and disfavored solicitation, and it does not discriminate based on a solicitor's identity."
The ordinance prohibits aggressive panhandling or soliciting of customers sitting at outdoor cafes or within 50 feet of two streets - 2nd Street SE and 4th Street NE - that cross the busy pedestrian mall. It doesn't allow panhandlers to make physical contact with or intimidate people on the mall, nor does it allow forms passive panhandling like holding up a sign.
The comments sections of Newsplex.com are designed for thoughtful, intelligent conversation and debate. We want to hear from our viewers, but we only ask that you use your best judgment. E-mail is required, but will not be displayed with comment.
As a host Newsplex.com welcomes a wide spectrum of opinions. However this is a site that we host. We have a responsibility to all our readers to try to keep our comment section fair and decent. For that reason The Newsplex reserves the right to not post or to remove any comment.
If you have any ideas to improve the conversation or this section let us know. Send an e-mail to webmaster@newsplex.com.
powered by Disqus
