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|  | | By Arlene Gross | | |
July 03, 2008 | 12:50 PM
In a 3 to 2 vote on Tuesday night, the Town Board passed a law prohibiting solicitation on the streets of Huntington.
Council members Mark Cuthbertson and Glenda Jackson opposed the bill.
Town officials said the law is designed to prevent traffic slowing down around the area of the town's day laborer hiring site and thereby increase the security of motorists and pedestrians alike. Contractors stopping in the middle of the street can be fined from $25 for a first offense to $1,000 for repeated breaches.
Cuthbertson said the new law would not solve the problem and sends the wrong message about the town. After listening to what members of the public said at the June 11 hearing and reflecting on the matter, he said he could not vote in its favor.
"I think people should be free to congregate and express their opinion, including the thought and the opinion that they need a job," Cuthbertson said. "So I will not vote to curtail that right. Just like I would not vote to limit the right of individuals who want to congregate outside of Town Hall and the street in front of my home, both public places, and express their differences of opinion with me. The right of free expression is too fundamental to our constitutional democracy to be trammeled upon so easily."
Explaining his reaction to protesters who appeared in front of his house twice recently, he said that the first time, "I called the police because my wife was concerned." The police then laid out the ground rules for the protesters to ensure they would not trespass on his property. "I didn't call them the second week," he said.
Jackson said that although changes are needed at the site, "I'm not convinced this is the answer," but ultimately hopes the new legislation works.
Calling it a "middle ground approach, Councilwoman Susan Berland said, "It's not going to solve all the problems. However, if you're going to have the site, it's got to work." Berland said she does not believe the legislation is unconstitutional. "I don't believe a local community should have to tolerate hundreds of people congregating on the streets."
Councilman Stuart Besen, who co-sponsored the legislation with Supervisor Frank Petrone, said the employers who use the hiring site need to comply with laws in assigning jobs in a fair and safe way "but in a way that didn't interfere with the peaceful coexistence with the neighbors there."
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