anti-lingering ordinance
Carrboro’s controversial four-year-old anti-loitering ordinance, which prohibited people from lingering at the intersection of Jones Ferry and Davie roads past 11:00 am, was rescinded in a unanimous decision Tuesday evening at a meeting of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen before a full chamber of community members.
Carrboro residents will unveil a letter calling upon the Board of Aldermen to rescind the town's anti-loitering ordinance at a Tuesday October 25 11 AM press conference on the corner of Davie and Jones Ferry Roads. The letter, signed by more than 100 Carrboro residents, business owners, and day laborers, calls for the immediate repeal of the ordinance which "violates the civil and human rights of any person who would otherwise lawfully be present at the intersection."
An anti-lingering ordinance was passed in 2007 in response to neighborhood complaints of loitering and disorderliness at the intersection of Davie and Jones Ferry Roads in Carrboro (the Town of Carrboro Ordinance 5-20 can be viewed here starting on page 8). This intersection (and the Pantry located there) is one of the most popular sites in our community for the gathering of day laborers to meet potential employers.
Local organizations have raised concerns over this ordinance unfairly targeting minority residents and not being constitutional. In fact, the North Carolina ACLU raised such issues when the ordinance was being drafted. Concerns were also voiced on Orange Politics both before and after the ordinance was put in place.
This is my first post on OP in a long, long time. But I'm fired up, friends.
Tonight the Carrboro Board of Aldermen heard a report from the police chief that the anti-lingering ordinance in place since 2007 has been a success. No one has been arrested using the ordinance though many, apparently, have been threatened by the police and "educated."
There were five or six people in attendance in support of the ordinance and, unfortunately, I was the only member of the public there to speak against it. I called it a preemptive strike on civil liberties and below what Carrboro is all about.
And I mentioned that I know what it is like to be the victim of an assault and to live in a place where I had reason to be concerned for my safety when walking down my street.
I don't see the Carrboro I have long admired in this ordinance.
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