Jeff Stack stood on a median at the intersection of Business Loop 70 and Providence Road for about 15 minutes before a police officer gave him a warning.
Stack, a local activist and coordinator of the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation, was in violation of Columbia’s median safety ordinance, which went into effect Wednesday.
Stack and other opponents of the ordinance protested on medians at Business Loop 70 and Providence Road on Wednesday morning, with some people also protesting at Stadium Boulevard and Worley Street. Other protesters were at the medians on Providence Road and Broadway late Wednesday afternoon.
Many of the people who are against the ordinance argue that it limits the First Amendment guarantee of free speech and has a negative impact on homeless people and panhandlers, while the city of Columbia has stated that the ordinance is meant to ensure safety for pedestrians.
“It’s good to try to figure out how we can make things more safe for people,” Stack said. “I appreciate and applaud those efforts by city officials, engineers and others, but I think we can’t be going for safety and curtailing freedoms.”
The Columbia City Council voted in favor of the ordinance 5-2 in February. The ordinance states that pedestrians who stand on a narrow median for two light cycles, cross intersections at a location other than a marked crosswalk or leave or get into a car on the street are in violation of it.
The Columbia Police Department plans to take a “safety-first approach” to enforcing the ordinance, and officers will request voluntary compliance before writing a ticket, according to the city of Columbia website.
Stack received a citation for violating the ordinance. He acknowledged the police officers were “just doing what they’re supposed to do,” but said he does not believe the ordinance is constitutional.
Within the two hours protesters spent at Providence and Business Loop 70, four of them received citations.
“Part of what we’re considering is that we want to challenge this in court, and so a citation brings us to the court,” Stack said.
Demonstrators were scattered throughout the four corners of the intersection and held up various signs, including one that said, “Panhandling is a First Amendment right!”
Additionally, people shouted encouraging messages to protesters as they drove by, and there were sporadic honks of support from passing cars.
Pam Pearn, a participant in the protest, stood on a median until a police officer asked her to move. Like Stack, she received a citation and a court date.
Pearn said she had previously spoken with City Council members about the ordinance, and expressed her opposition to the rule.
“I believe that this is a violation of our First Amendment rights under the Constitution,” Pearn said.
Throughout the demonstration, local activist Rasha Abousalem walked around the intersection and held her hands up in a heart shape. Abousalem has been part of global humanitarian aid efforts and also is a researcher.
She said the ordinance will have a negative impact on protests, and also brought up her concern that some people may view panhandlers as an “eyesore” instead of having empathy for them.
“Homelessness is not a crime,” Abousalem said.
Despite understanding the potential for police presence, Abousalem said everyone she knew there believed in the importance of protesting.
“The risk of not speaking out outweighs the risk of being here,” Abousalem said.
Stack and Pearn will appear before municipal court on Aug. 19.
Dan Viets, the president of the Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association board, said his organization has agreed to represent some of the people who received citations.
He said similar laws in other cities, such as Albuquerque, New Mexico and Oklahoma City, have been found unconstitutional, and those instances may guide how his organization approaches the upcoming cases.