By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — Law enforcement officials say they haven’t issued any tickets for violating a new rule prohibiting walking in the medians that divide roadways now more than seven months after the measure was enacted.
The new code was unanimously approved by City Council members in late November as a means to keep lanes of traffic clear as a safety precaution for both pedestrians and motorists. However, some including the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois said it would effectively prohibit people’s constitutionally protected right to panhandle or otherwise ask for help.
“When officers order people off the median who are engaged in speech — including asking for help — it raises serious constitutional concerns,” said Ed Yonka, director of communications and public policy for the ACLU of Illinois.
Loves Park disputes that the measure has anything to do with panhandling. Instead, officials have noted the law applies to anyone in the median for any reason and is meant to prevent a potentially deadly collision. Panhandlers can still ask for help on sidewalks along the side of the road.
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Loves Park’s ordinance allows for fines up to $750 for those caught in violation. However, Police Chief Mike McCammond says officers have not resorted to that.
“We have not taken any enforcement action,” he said. “It’s been verbal warnings to this point.”
“We’ve being trying to educate and gain voluntary compliance at this point.”
McCammond couldn’t estimate how many verbal warnings have been given, but he said officers usually do so after getting a call from residents about people in the medians. Those calls are more common when large groups are occupying the dividing curbs between roads, he said.
“We respond a lot of the time to complaints,” he said. “When it’s nice out, sometimes it’s daily.”
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The practice of panhandling spiked in the region after a ruling came down in January 2021 from a federal district court judge in Chicago who struck down a state law prohibiting panhandling and ordered police to stop enforcing such laws.
That ruling meant that local governments can’t expressly prohibit panhandling. Loves Park’s 900-plus word ordinance prohibiting walking in medians does not mention panhandling or any variation of the practice.
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This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.