Anchorage spent thousands of dollars posting anti-panhandling signs citing a law found unconstitutional

The municipality spent more than $8,000 to post anti-panhandling signs at dozens of Anchorage’s busiest intersections in December — but the city law cited on the sign was found unconstitutional by a state court years ago.

The metal signs popped up in early December at busy Anchorage intersections where people can sometimes be seen soliciting money from drivers: Northern Lights Boulevard and the Seward Highway. The highway off-ramp to Tudor Road. A Street and Benson. So far, 68 signs have been erected at 20 intersections, at a cost of $8,689, according to the city.

The signs were a surprise to police. The department wasn’t told about the signs in advance, the retiring chief said at an Anchorage Assembly public safety committee meeting Wednesday.

“We were not aware of those signs,” Chief Ken McCoy said. He’s retiring on Feb. 1.

Officers aren’t citing people, McCoy said.

“First and foremost, the police department, we’re not enforcing that statute,” he said. “Officers are not writing citations for that.”

Corey Young, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bronson, said the signs are meant to “keep pedestrians away from dangerous situations in the roadway.”

Mayor Dave Bronson made cracking down on low-level infractions sometimes associated with homelessness a priority during his campaign, vowing to enforce laws against jaywalking and panhandling.

The signs warn that panhandling is illegal, citing a city ordinance and part of state law.

“Panhandling prohibited on median or roadway,” the signs say. “Contribute to the solution. Give to charities.”

The signs refer to a section of municipal code, 14.70.160, that says panhandling is illegal under certain circumstances. At the end of the section, a note warns that in a 2014 court case, Ballas, et. al. v. Municipality of Anchorage, the Alaska Superior Court held the law was unconstitutional.

The Ballas case stemmed from a 2011 ordinance that barred people from sitting or lying on public sidewalks. The ACLU of Alaska sued, representing a performance artist and other activists, and in December 2014 Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock ruled that the law violated the section of the state constitution that guarantees free speech. The case does not appear to have been appealed.

Shortly after Bronson took office in July, Brice Wilbanks, the mayor’s former campaign manager and now staffer, first approached the city’s traffic engineering department about the signs, city ombudsman Darrel Hess wrote in an email to Assembly member Kameron Perez-Verdia.

[Floyd Kaleak was a folk hero, spectacle and fixture on the streets of Anchorage]

The municipality’s traffic engineering department ordered 200 of the panhandling signs. The public works director wasn’t aware of the court ruling when he went forward with making the signs, according to the memo.

It’s not clear when the signs started going up, or if anyone reviewed the legal aspects of the message. But the ombudsman started to receive complaints about the signs in early December.

“I expressed my concerns with the MOA placing signs in public spaces that reference a section of code that has been held to be unconstitutional by the Court,” Hess wrote.

A legal review of the signs is happening now, city attorney Patrick Bergt said Wednesday at the public safety meeting.

“We are aware of concerns related to designs, we’re addressing as needed, and will remedy if needed, as soon as possible.”

When asked why the city didn’t coordinate with police before posting the signs Young, the mayor’s spokesman, said “coordination and discussions are ongoing.”

Will the remainder of the 200 signs be posted? “Coordination and discussions” are also ongoing about that topic, Young said.

For decades, both politicians and nonprofit leaders have tried to quell panhandling in Anchorage, saying the practice of giving cash to people does little to solve root issues of homelessness and can encourage dangerous behavior like walking in traffic to solicit donations.

Previous administrations have tried informational campaigns to discourage giving to panhandlers, as well as enforcement of laws — which many point out result in toothless fines that further burden unhoused people and are rarely paid.

One effort, called the Anchorage Cares Initiative, encouraged people to donate directly to nonprofit providers instead of handing cash out of car windows and to people on the street, said Amanda Moser, executive director of the Anchorage Downtown Partnership.

Police haven’t cited anyone for panhandling in years, said APD spokeswoman Sunny Guerin.

Since the beginning of 2020, police have cited three people under a separate municipal ordinance dealing with “pedestrian’s rights and duties,” 9.20.060, that bars people from soliciting or collecting contributions from the occupant of a vehicle in the roadway, according to APD spokeswoman Renee Oistad. It’s not clear why the city didn’t refer to that ordinance on the signs.