Las Cruces Voting on Issues Targeting Homeless

Las Cruces City Council is voting today on two measures that could impact homeless people in the city.

The first deals with HOW someone can panhandle in the city. The other measure is all about shopping carts.

One of the ordinances, if approved, would limit how people can panhandle. The proposed measure would “prohibit aggressive solicitation”, which makes sense because who likes being “aggressively solicited”?

It would prohibit blocking traffic or using intimidation tactics on motorists. Really, these are issues that are already covered by things on the books.

The other measure would make “possession of a shopping cart” a misdemeanor with a fine from 100 to 500 dollars. My guess is that anyone who moves all their earthly possessions around in a shopping cart ISN’T going to be able to come up with the money for the fine.

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The Cruces City Council says they’ve already determined that unauthorized shopping carts, “constitutes a nuisance, creates potential hazards and…interferes with pedestrian and vehicular traffic.”

Sure, but what if someone is a shopping cart aficionado? Maybe they BOUGHT their shopping cart on EBAY or Amazon? I’ve got a teeny-tiny “shopping cart” that I bought AT a grocery store. I use it to take groceries in my house and, believe me, a full-sized one would be much more efficient.

The proposal also adds that people can’t “accumulate” shopping carts because it reduces property value and “promotes blight and deterioration of neighborhoods within the city.”

I guess the three junked cars, abandoned refrigerator and waist-high weeds are OK as long as you don’t have a shopping cart in the mix.