You are the city attorney for the City of Bellevue. You have been approached by the mayor and the downtown merchants about a problem regarding homeless people hanging around the downtown stores and panhandling. Apparently, a significant number of homeless people and teenagers are hanging around by sitting and lying on the sidewalks, actually blocking or impeding pedestrian traffic. There Is a belief that the homeless are intimidating people with their aggressive approach to panhandling. There are reports that some people feel that the aggressive nature of the panhandlers borders on strong-arm robbery. The merchants feel that this is inhibiting business and they want the city to do something about it.
You have been directed to consider the following options:
1. Writing an ordinance prohibiting panhandling (approaching people on the street and asking for money).
2. Writing an ordinance against *aggressive" panhandling.
3. Writing an ordinance creating an "economic zone and prohibiting sitting and lying on the sidewalk within these zones.
Assignment: The mayor wants you to objectively evaluate the constitutionality of the above three options. Do online research and identify the constitutional arguments for and against. Conclude by determining which side (constitutional or unconstitutional) is most compelling and why. You will find during your research that social and political considerations must be vetted as well as legal. Use these arguments to help you formulate your conclusion. The paper will be double spaced, site 12 font, a works cited page (if necessary) and no more than five pages.
Approach: Checking the legality of these ideas will require you to understand what legal principles need to be considered. For instance are there protections for panhandling? If so is it possible to write an ordinance that is merely a reasonable attempt to regulate a specific behavior? Remember, what reasons that are most compelling or precedential stems from Washington State and U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decisions. Use other decisions as guidance. What federal circuit do we live in?
You are allowed and encouraged to block quote from court decisions. Just be sure to identify the case, court, source of your information and year of decision.
Assessment: Your paper will be assessed on the strength of the supporting evidence that you use in your opinion, the court cases that you find to support your opinion, Identifying the potent-al public relations/policy ramifications and coherency of your opinion Reminder there is no one outcome.