City looks to stop loitering at bus stops

The setting was City Hall, 801 Plum St., in council chambers. Committee Chair Scotty Johnson called the meeting to order around 9:35 a.m. The meeting, which included one public speaker, adjourned at 10:02 a.m.

Committee Members

• Chair, Council Member Scotty Johnson
• Vice Chair, Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney
• Council Member Mark Jeffreys
• Council Member Anna Albi

Presentations

Council Member Scotty Johnson, committee chair, said council is continuing talks with food truck owners over complaints revenue is being lost. Food truck owners say this is due to a  new ordinance that requires bars and entertainment businesses in the urban core to close at 11 p.m.  A presentation to the committee did not materialize, Johnson said.

Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, committee vice chair, said food truck operators are complaining that the new closing time is cutting into business. City administration asked for the 11 p.m. closure because the city does not want people hanging around those and other late night establishments, where food trucks typically set up.

Council Member Anna Albi said she wants to see statistics and testimony because the question is, “What do we want downtown Cincinnati to look and feel like in the future?”

Agenda Items

The agenda carried the following item:

1.   An ordinance modifying “Streets and Sidewalks, Use Regulations” by ordaining a new section, “Trespass in a Transit Center Zone,” and amending another section, “Designated Transit Zone,” to promote the safe and efficient operation of the regional transit system in the public right-of-way.

Johnson said the ordinance has to do with those who are loitering at any transit zones (bus stops). 

“We want to make sure that people who are in the zones intending to ride have a place to sit while waiting for public transportation,” Johnson said. “We don’t want to be heavy-handed with this, but we do want riders to be able to sit and wait for public transportation.”

Kearney said the ordinance is in place to stop people from sleeping on  benches in transit zones: “We want to make sure this is not a criminal matter,” and that the ordinance allows city workers to approach those sleeping on benches in the transit zones and ask them to move along. “The city should not be penalizing the unhoused.”

According to the proposed ordinance, the penalties are a minor misdemeanor and a $150 fine.

An attorney with the city law department told the committee violators in the streetcar boarding/departure zones could actually be fined $250.

“We are the legislators of compassion and care,” Johnson said, “but we do want people using public transit to feel safe.”

Council Member Mark Jeffreys said it’s complicated to add this ordinance because, to his understanding, it is unenforceable. A lot of questions remained, he said. For example, how police and other enforcers will determine whether someone is waiting on a bus or loitering.

Jeffreys asked city administration to share its plan on enforcement before he could vote on the proposed ordinance. Albi also asked that the committee hold the ordinance for more clarity about enforcement, unless there is some emergency about it that would require an immediate vote..

City Manager Sheryl Long joined the discussion and explained the goal is to have a very intentional rollout of the ordinance. The city is working with SORTA, utilizing the city’s 311 community responders, posting signage, and offering wraparound services for those who need help with      housing or mental health. All of that would be in place before relying on police enforcement, she said.

“Right now, we have specific bus stops we are concerned about. They are downtown,” Long said, noting, “We can see with the curfew.”

Long said the goal would be for people to have the natural ability to move on before police would have to enforce a loitering law. 

Johnson said the last thing a police officer wants to be involved with is with policing someone at a bus stop or transit center.

In response, Long said the feeling from people that they cannot safely get to a bus is a major barrier and concern for riders.

         Albi said, “We are not here to criminalize homelessness in any way.”

SORTA, Long said, has communicated that the focus would be downtown, but there are stops in Oakley near downtown where loitering also appears to be a concern.

According to Long and Kearney, SORTA’s long-term plan is to redesign benches that would not be conducive to sleeping.

         The committee advanced the ordinance to the full council for passage this week.

Public Comment

Leroy Shabazz: He presented on behalf of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and asked the committee to support CERTs and its mission. It’s important to have communities prepared, especially the Black community, he said. 

Johnson said the city fire department would be responsible for handling emergency response situations, so he asked Shabazz to re-connect with the fire department.  

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