Carla Nelson, 58, asks for money at the driveway to Eureka’s Costco. New provisions in the City’s panhandling ordinance would ban such activities in this spot. | Ryan Burns

Eureka Attorney Peter E. Martin says a new provision slated for inclusion in the City’s “Aggressive Solicitation Ordinance” is likely unconstitutional, and if the City Council approves the amendment as scheduled Tuesday night he may file a lawsuit.

At tonight’s regular meeting the Eureka City Council will consider expanding its “aggressive solicitation” ordinance to prohibit begging from people in cars and panhandling at roadway medians, gas stations and bus stations, among other spots. The expanded ordinance would effectively outlaw panhandling in the City’s most popular begging spots, including the driveways at Costco and the hillside perch where West Henderson descends to Broadway.

Martin said most of those proposed regulations are likely on solid constitutional footing, but he finds fault in a provision that would outlaw panhandling within 50 feet of any bus stop in city limits.

“That one is problematic,” Martin said in a phone conversation Monday afternoon. He identified two problems with the proposed language. “One is there’s nothing sacred about waiting for a bus. Two, the zone of protection is way too big. There’s no reason the same purpose couldn’t be achieved by a 10-foot barrier.”

Martin successfully represented local activist Richard Salzman five years ago in a lawsuit against the City of Arcata. In 2012, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale A. Reinholtsen struck down major provisions of the City’s 2010 panhandling ordinance, ruling that many of the geographic restrictions it established violated citizens’ free speech rights.

Both Martin and Salzman serve on the board of the Humboldt Civil Liberties Defense Fund. In an emailed response to a request for comment, Salzman echoed Martin’s warning, saying defense fund attorneys are prepared to act. “If the city council does not alter that wording then it’s fair for them to anticipate a lawsuit from any person(s) with standing who ask for our support in bringing the case to court.”

Calls to Eureka City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson have not yet been returned. In her report to City Council, Day-Wilson said the amendments were proposed with Judge Reinholtsen’s 2012 ruling in mind, as well as a recent ordinance in Sacramento. Eureka’s proposed amendments are apparently based on Sacramento’s ordinance, which was modified to avoid a legal challenge, according to Day-Wilson’s report.

Under the proposed amendments, panhandlers would be prohibited from asking for money …

  • from anyone inside a car that’s within 200 feet of an intersection with a traffic signal, a stop sign or a yield sign;
  • from anyone in a car that’s within 35 feet of a driveway to any business establishment or shopping center;
  • from the driver or passengers of a car stopped at a gas station;
  • while on a roadway median strip; 
  • from anyone riding the bus; and
  • within 50 feet of any “posted public transportation vehicle stop.”

Yesterday around 5 p.m., homeless woman Carla Nelson was standing at the corner of a Costco driveway on Short Street in Eureka. Her cardboard sign read:

HUNGRY
PROPANE FOR HEAT
LiVE iN OLD RV

As this reporter approached, a passenger in a full-size pickup rolled down her window and handed Nelson a dollar bill. Over the course of a four- or five-minute conversation, Nelson was given another folded up bill from one passenger, and a woman in a sedan handed Nelson a white paper bag from the Safeway deli, saying, “There’s a corndog in there.”

Told that her panhandling perch might soon be outlawed, Nelson said she can see both sides. “Myself, if I was in a better position, I’d say yeah, probably [to the proposed ban],” she said. “But I have to do this to survive.”

Nelson said she and her husband are both homeless and have medical issues that make them hesitant to visit the various free dining facilities in the area. Her husband kept getting bronchitis after visiting such places, she said. “There’s people with TB, hepatitis. I worry about hygiene.”

In Eureka’s January e-newsletter, City Manager Greg Sparks urged people not to give to panhandlers. “We have all seen the signs that read, ‘Homeless, Hungry, Anything Will Help, God Bless,’” Sparks wrote. “However, there are a number of free dining facilities in Eureka. … The City of Eureka and Humboldt County have been part of an effort to educate the public that dollars given to panhandlers would be more effective going to the three free dining providers.”

Sparks also referred to studies that allegedly found the vast majority of money given to panhandlers goes toward drugs and alcohol. “Not everybody gets drunk on it,” Nelson said. “Me, I’m getting dinner. And hopefully some propane if I can get it.”

She and her husband have been offered rooms at the Multiple Assistance Center (aka “The MAC”), but she said they declined the offer, hoping to save up more of her husband’s social security funds so they’d be in a position to afford permanent housing upon their departure from the MAC.

Regarding the proposed expanded ban on panhandling, Nelson said she disapproves. “We should be able to ask,” she said.

The City Council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Eureka City Hall.