ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A federal lawsuit was filed Monday against St. Johns County for its ordinance involving pedestrians and public rights-of-way.
The 32-page lawsuit filed by Southern Legal Counsel takes issue with ordinance 2023-16, relating to pedestrian and vehicle safety.
“We think this is really important, because panhandling ordinances are often one of many measures that governments use to try to keep their unhoused or unsheltered community members out of sight,” said Chelsea Dunn, Director of the Decriminalizing Poverty Project at Southern Legal Counsel.
The eight-page ordinance does not mention the words panhandlers, unhoused, or homeless. But Dunn said that is exactly who it is targeting.
Her group is behind the lawsuit, which includes three people who request donations, or panhandles to get by.
“We believe that this ordinance, again, restricts a broad array of expressive activities, and specifically it prohibits our client’s protected speech in a way that we believe does not, is not in compliance with the Constitution and the First Amendment,” she said.
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The St. Johns County ordinance doesn’t allow for people to use public rights-of-way in a manner that interferes with the safe and efficient movement of people and property from place to place on a public road, street, or highway.
It also bans people and cars from interacting while the car is in the “traveled” portion of the roadway.
News4JAX reached out to St. Johns County about the lawsuit and sent the following statement:
“We have yet to see the federal lawsuit. All of St Johns County’s ordinances are designed and directed to intentionally provide for and protect the health, safety, and well-being of its community. Our ordinance is not about specific people but about purposeful public safety.”
Jacksonville Attorney Gene Nichols said no matter what county you’re in or city a person’s in, if there’s an ordinance and it’s talking about public safety and interaction between people on the sidewalks or in the community with vehicles, it has to do with panhandlers.
He said this lawsuit in St. Johns County is just the first of many dominoes until this group gets a favorable rule from a federal judge.
“These are the sort of cases that sooner or later do end up in front of the United States Supreme Court to determine whether or not laws such as this are in violation of the First Amendment,” said Nichols.
Nichols is familiar with the group filing the lawsuit and the ordinance in place. He said these lawsuits and ordinances are a dime a dozen.
“Long story short, what the different cities and counties have tried to do is they tried to make panhandling illegal,” he said. “The United States Supreme Court’s already told us it’s a First Amendment privilege to be able to ask for the money. The question is whether these laws are restricting somebody’s First Amendment right.”