LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A controversial Metro Council ordinance is now one step away from becoming official after clearing the Public Safety Committee.
During the meeting Wednesday afternoon, Councilman Rick Blackwell (D-District 12), one of the sponsors, said the plan is about keeping pedestrians safe.
"Pedestrians and moving automobiles are not a good mix. They just are not," he said. "What we're trying to do with this ordinance is to limit opportunities for pedestrians and vehicles to meet."
The new rules would spell out where pedestrians can legally cross a road. It would prohibit people from being on medians unless they're crossing. It would ban them from approaching vehicles, except for a couple reasons. The rules would apply to most of Louisville's major roads, from downtown to Bardstown Road and beyond.
Two weeks ago, the ACLU told WDRB News it has problems with the ordinance and the way it could strip free speech rights from panhandlers. In the Wednesday meeting, another wing of opposition stepped up: labor unions.
"I feel like there's an ordinance that's got the potential to infringe upon our rights to communicate with our members and the general public," said Bill Londrigan, the president of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO. "There's a lot of times when people are protesting, and there's a large number of them. There may not be enough sidewalk space available for those people to be on. They would be subject to being cited under this ordinance if they moved out into the street."
Londrigan and Kirk Gillenwaters, who's on the board of the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, feel it's so broad it could be used to shut down protests and picket lines. Additionally, Londrigan said union reps will sometimes stand along the road outside certain companies to distribute flyers to employees driving into the lots.
"It's a common practice, and we've done it for a very long period of time, and we feel like that this would potentially infringe upon our ability to continue doing that type of work," he said.
Blackwell and others on council maintain the ordinance is constitutional and narrowly focused on a serious public safety problem. Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad said Wednesday that of 614 pedestrian-involved collisions so far this year, 79% happened on the roadway, and in 65.3% of the collisions, a pedestrian was found to be at fault.
"Whatever group is expressing their First Amendment, what we're looking for in this ordinance is to do it in such a way that they don't die in the street doing so," Blackwell said.
"It doesn't appear to me that it goes any deeper to limit speech than what we already have in established law," added Councilman Mark Fox (D-District 13).
That doesn't deter Londrigan.
"We have a better argument, which is free speech," he said.
While he wouldn't say whether or not unions would challenge the ordinance in court, he said he plans to coordinate with the ACLU about possible next steps.
The ordinance will likely have a final vote from full Metro Council in August.
Related Stories:
- Civil rights group not happy with Louisville plan that would limit panhandling
- LMPD chief supports effort to limit jaywalking, some panhandling
- Proposed Louisville ordinance could prohibit jaywalking and prevent panhandling
Copyright 2019 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
