It became illegal Tuesday night for anyone to solicit funds or anything else in public streets in Little Rock.
In an 8-2 vote, the Little Rock Board of Directors cautiously entered into the ban with the caveat that it would revisit the issue and consider less-stringent options in two months. City Directors Erma Hendrix and Ken Richardson voted against the ban.
Officials said the measure was necessary after an influx of groups taking to the streets to solicit donations for their organizations. Many of the groups use children to enter roadways while vehicles are moving, some city directors said.
Representatives of the Nation of Islam, the local chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Muscular Dystrophy Association objected to the ban at Tuesday's board meeting.
The Nation of Islam distributes a newspaper for donations in medians in Little Rock. The fire fighter group operates a Fill-the-Boot fundraiser twice yearly for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Under the new ordinance, no one is allowed to enter a roadway or median to distribute or solicit. However, people may still solicit or distribute materials from public sidewalks if they don't enter the street, vehicles are stopped and the occupant of the vehicle willingly accepts any material being distributed.
"I'm still not convinced I can't figure something out" to limit solicitation but not outright ban it, City Attorney Tom Carpenter said. "Right now we've got a problem that if we are going to address it, we've got to address it now, and the only effective way I can see to address it is to ban it outright."
Suggestions were made to put an age limit on those allowed to solicit in streets, require that they be religious organizations or nonprofits and to limit the number of days per year any group can solicit.
Carpenter said he is looking into those options, but some of them have already been challenged in courts and have failed, being found in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Jimmy Morris, an attorney representing the Nation of Islam, said the group has distributed its newspaper in Little Rock for at least 30 years and has never caused a wreck or injury.
"I think when we get to the point of outright banning stuff, we get to the point of stepping on freedom of religion and freedom of the press," he said. "Let's table this issue for a second and see if we can work out a less restrictive way to go about this."
Several city directors -- including At-large City Directors Joan Adcock and Dean Kumpuris, Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright and Vice Mayor Lance Hines -- expressed support of the work of the Nation of Islam and the firefighters, but said action had to be taken to protect public safety because of other groups soliciting dangerously.
Kumpuris, who is a doctor, said he has seen a child arrive at the hospital dead due to an injury caused while the child was soliciting funds in a roadway.
Hendrix, city director for Ward 1, adamantly opposed the ban and attempted to get it deferred.
"I don't see how anybody with the city could sit up here and deny the fireman to do what they're doing," she said.
Voting for the ban were Adcock, Kumpuris, Wright, Hines and City Directors Gene Fortson, Kathy Webb, Brad Cazort and B.J. Wyrick.
Included in an amendment to the ordinance was an order for Carpenter to report back to the board in two months with possible options to lift the ban and put other restrictions in its place.
Metro on 07/15/2015