A Burlington community activist is taking the city’s no-trespass ordinance to court.
Sandra Baird, a Burlington resident and member of the Vermont Community Law Center, filed a lawsuit against the city this week in Chittenden Superior Court challenging the legality and constitutionality of the ordinance.
The Ordinance Committee must report back to the council no later than October. The council would then decide whether to change it, rescind it or leave it alone.
Baird’s complaint argues that the ordinance violates constitutional protections and that the city does not have authorization from the Legislature to banish people from a public street, and asks that the ordinance be suspended.
Lawyers representing Baird said debate on the ordinance should occur in court, not before the committee, which they say is unlikely to change its position.
“Our differences are too great for anything the Ordinance Committee is going to resolve,” said John Franco, an attorney representing Baird in the case. “To argue this in front of the Ordinance Committee would be a waste of time.”
In July, Franco and other local attorneys submitted a letter to the city requesting that enforcement of the ordinance be suspended. Franco said he received a response from the city attorney denying their request.
Franco does not expect the Ordinance Committee to reconsider his fundamental concern that the Legislature has not authorized enforcement of the ordinance. While he argues the authority has not been granted, the City Attorney’s Office claims the city has authorization, Franco said.
He expects the committee to maintain the same position as the city attorney.
Aside from the argument that the city has not been granted authorization from the Legislature, the plaintiff claims that her constitutional rights as a taxpayer are violated.
The ordinance violates due process because of its “overbreadth,” or its restrictions on other constitutionally protected activities, such as free speech and other everyday activities on the street, said attorney Jared Carter, who is also representing Baird.
The plaintiff also alleges the enforcement procedures set by the ordinance violate due process because the citations go into effect before they can be appealed in front of the Church Street Marketplace Commission, which is closed on weekends and holidays, forcing violators of the ordinance to serve out the full 24-hour banishment for a first offense.
“The officer that issues it is the police and the judge in this instance,” Carter said. “Once they have issued it, it goes into effect.”
Carter claims enforcement should not continue while the committee considers the ordinance’s validity.
“To be quite honest, waiting until sometime in October doesn’t seem realistic to me,” Carter said. “There are people’s rights who have been violated. We have been bringing this up since February.”
Last week, the Ordinance Committee scheduled a meeting on the subject. The meeting was canceled because Franco was on vacation, committee members said. The next meeting has not been scheduled.
