NJ Town Pumps Brakes On Ordinance Fining, Jailing The Homeless

SUMMIT, NJ — Following around 4 hours of comments from the public and Council, Summit City has decided to reexamine and improve an ordinance that could charge the homeless fees or possibly jail them for sleeping outside on public property.

"The purpose of carrying the vote would be to take up some of the generous offers of some of you in the room to improve this ordinance. It’s to make it better," said Council President Mike McTernan at the April 22 meeting.

The vote to carry the final vote on the ordinance was approved 5 to 2. Councilmen Jamel Boyer and Bob Pawlowski voted against carrying the vote, and McTernan along with Councilmembers Delia Hamlet, Michelle Kalmanson, Claire Toth, and Kevin Smallwood, voted in favor.

The Council originally introduced the ordinance at its April 1 meeting that would fine the homeless no less than $100 or up to $2,000 for sleeping or camping on City streets, sidewalks, promenades, alleyways, rights-of-way, parks, benches, parking lots, athletic fields, bus shelters, tennis and paddle courts.

In addition, the homeless found violating the ordinance could face imprisonment or community service for up to 90 days.

At the April 22 meeting, the Council had already amended the ordinance to remove the word "sleeping" from it.

"After careful listening, we have made a small but meaningful adjustment. We removed the word sleeping from the ordinance. It is a non-substantive change, but it reflects our core belief that this is not about punishing people for being unhoused, tired, or in need," said Boyer.

Mayor Elizabeth Fagan spoke prior to the almost three hours of public comments about the reasoning behind the ordinance.

Fagan said the Council started talking about this issue 14 months ago.

"We did so because there was an alarming drain on our first responder resources and an overuse of the 911 system for nonemergency situations. Putting our residents at risk for not getting immediate help when truly needed," said Fagan.

Specifically, Fagan said almost 20 percent of calls coming into their volunteer first aid squad were from the same handful of individuals and there was a similar drain on our police resources.

As a result, Fagan created the Mayor's Homelessness Task Force in June, which has helped 21 individuals find housing.

However, she added, there is a group that will not accept help.

"In the last year, Summit Police responded to over 1,100 calls related to these folks. That includes 351 welfare checks, 267 medical emergencies, 89 trespassing, 82 disturbances and fights, 74 municipal violations," said Boyer.

Some of the calls Fagan and Boyer listed included individuals showing pornography to children, looking up pornography on library computers in plain view of kids, punching and hitting first responders, and urinating and defecating in public places, including on park benches.

Boyer added that more threatening behavior has occurred over the past several weeks when a panhandler pulled a knife on his 11-year-old daughter after asking for a dollar.

He also said that a 5-year-old was grabbed in the playground and a teenager was threatened with being shot.

"Let me be absolutely clear, this is about public safety, this is not about homelessness. It’s not about poverty, it's not about status, it's about behavior. This ordinance focuses on how public spaces are used, not who is using them," said Boyer. "Many of the individuals occupying parks, sidewalks and benches in Summit are not unhoused. They have access to housing or shelter, but they reject it because housing comes with expectations of sobriety, safety, and structure, and some just don’t want to do that."

During public comment, incoming Summit Police Chief Ryan Peters noted that "the law enforcement component of this ordinance is not simply about issuing summonses to persons in need. It’s about providing access to resources while ensuring that our public spaces remain safe, accessible, and welcoming for everyone."

He added that the police department will be working with the Mayor’s Homelessness Task Force as well as other local organizations "to draft standard operating procedures to guide our officers on alternative measures that shall be taken prior to enforcement of any component of this ordinance."

Many members of the public spoke out against the ordinance.

"The present ordinance is flawed, as several members of the Common Council acknowledged, and it contains unintended consequences. Both councilmembers and police officers have shared that this ordinance would be used as a last resort and would not be enforced on everyone who sleeps in a public space. Selective enforcement would be illegal and could expose the city to litigation and there are already laws in place that criminalize violent and threatening behaviors," said Erin Glazer, who is the Rabbi of Temple Sinai in Summit.

Zeli Thomas of the Black Lives Matters Paterson noted that Paterson tried to pass a similar ordinance and stepped back.

He also added that some people may not be ready to accept help right away, "but they won't be ready when you have them in jail. And they won't be ready if they are dead. So we have to approach this with care and patience with love because our goal is to make sure everyone has a home and that home cannot be a jail."

Summit resident Joseph Maraziti also spoke and offered an alternative solution.

"This is not Summit. This does not solve the problem," said Maraziti. "All of the issues that have been complained about already have laws on the books to deal with that. This law will not deal with those issues. If somebody's asleep, they are not going to be attempting to stab somebody. This is misdirecting the remedy to this situation. I urge you to redouble the efforts of the task force. I would be happy to contribute my time to that effort because I would not be happy to see Summit go down this path. Summit is better than this."

The ordinance is being carried to the May 6 Council meeting. There will be Council comments accepted at the meeting but there will be no further public comments accepted.

Previous reporting: Affluent NJ Town Plans To Fine, Jail The Homeless

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