Altoona City Council members are considering two controversial ordinances which would penalize people who are sleeping outside and potentially make it more expensive to hold protests and parades.
Urban Camping ordinance
The “Urban Camping” ordinance would allow police to fine anyone sleeping in a public place between $100 to $1,000, or sentence the person to imprisonment for no more than 90 days, or both.
Altoona City Council members say this isn’t meant to criminalize homelessness, and they’re looking into ways to connect the city’s homeless population with social workers.
Several people had to stand at Monday night's crowded meeting, where almost 100 people attended. Nineteen people spoke during the public comment session.
“If our answer is a social worker, that's something. But a social worker is not housing for the hundreds of people who live and work in this community who don’t have a place to live, including myself," said Sherri Elle, who said she's been living in her car since last fall.
City council members said they got the idea for the urban camping ordinance from talking with other municipalities around the state addressing homelessness, including Pittsburgh.
"We have had multiple meetings with the magisterial district judges, multiple social service agencies, and the whole idea of this is to get people into a better position than having to sleep under a tent or on a park bench," said council member Dave Ellis.
Read the full "Urban Camping" ordinance below. (If you don't see it, refresh your webpage.)
Police fees for public gatherings
Another ordinance several people spoke in opposition to is one that would add new law enforcement fees for public gatherings, like protests and parades. Event organizers would have to pay $50 dollars per hour for every police officer deemed necessary at the time of the application’s approval.
“This makes it not affordable, and it silences individuals from expression, political expression," said Carol Taylor, the president of Indivisible Blair County, which has hosted “No Kings” rallies, drawing hundreds of people to Altoona and Hollidaysburg.
Taylor and other speakers questioned the legality of these fees and whether they infringe on First Amendment rights.
Michael Wagner, the city’s solicitor, said it’s legal for the city to add fees as long as they’re for fiscal reasons.
“They can impose a fee structure as long as it is content neutral, meaning the same rules apply for a 'No King' rally as opposed to a MAGA rally, there can’t be any distinction," Wagner said.
Council member Bruce Kelley thanked residents for coming to the meeting and for sharing their opinions.
"I hope that we can find some kind of a compromise, a working solution that we're still able to entertain that expression of free speech," Kelley said. "But I also do believe that there are certain events that that may require additional police protection and cost, and I think that that's important that we work with that."
Matt Pacifico, Altoona's mayor, said he is against adding fees for public events.
Council introduced both ordinances at Monday's meeting and could vote on them at their April 13 meeting.
Council members tabled a resolution that would set the structure of the event fees, which was separated from the ordinance so that council can annually evaluate the fees.
You can watch Monday's meeting below.
