Loitering, targeted smoking ban considered

Town officials are considering a two-pronged ordinance attack on cleaning up criminal activity on Main Street.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140722/NEWS02/707229929

Published July 22, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Loitering, targeted smoking ban considered By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — Town officials are considering a two-pronged ordinance attack on cleaning up criminal activity on Main Street. The town’s ordinance committee met Monday to discuss the referral from the Springfield Select Board last week, and the small group agreed that the town would be better off making relevant adjustments to an existing loitering ordinance on the books. The group also wants to look at a smoking ban in a targeted area of downtown around Springfield Town Library because the loitering is taking place close by. The town has been battling drug-related crime during the past two years in the downtown area, punctuated by two shootings. While no one has been killed, the effect on the downtown area is growing, town officials said. Town Attorney Stephen Ankuda advocated strongly for making changes to the existing loitering ordinance, saying that it didn’t make sense to write a new ordinance “when we’re not enforcing the one we’ve got.” Ankuda said communities all over the country have had a hard time legislating effective loitering ordinances. Burlington and Rutland have had some success with loitering/public smoking bans, he and others said. “Unfortunately ‘constitutionally vague’ is not enforceable,” Ankuda said after the meeting. Select Board member George McNaughton, whose law office is in the downtown area, said after the meeting the town needed to clean up the downtown area before it shifts its attention to economic development, which was a top priority earlier this year when he ran for office. “Unfortunately, it’s pulling the whole town down,” said McNaughton. Select Board member Stephanie Thompson said the ordinance committee needed to hear from the Springfield Police Department, including Chief Douglas Johnston, as well as rank-and-file members of the police department to learn of the problems enforcing law and order in the downtown area. Numerous people routinely report drug deals are a common occurrence, and many residents of the Woolson Block loitered on Main Street, intimidating people or even blocking their path. It’s gotten so bad that people won’t let their children go to the town library by themselves, people said. Town Manager Robert Forguites said that parents are instructing their children to stay inside the Springfield Cinema rather than wait for them in the small town park in front of the rebuilt theater. But Thompson replied that her parents made her do the same thing when she was a child, not so long ago. Thompson said she supported a public ban on smoking in targeted areas, in a strategy to cut down on loitering. “A lot of people, a fair number of people, want the whole downtown smoke-free,” McNaughton said. The town last year banned smoking in all town parks and recreation fields, but that effort was motivated by public health issues. The police chief, who was not at the meeting, had submitted a proposed loitering ordinance he had received from the Vermont league of Cities and Towns. “We like it,” Ankuda said, “but it doesn’t quite fit.” The committee will meet again Aug. 12 at Town Hall with the police officer and police chief to discuss the ordinance. The town has to send a message it is working on the issue and not letting it drag on, McNaughton said.