On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved, in a 4-1 vote, a traffic safety ordinance that prohibits trespassing on the traffic medians of county highways. Ordinance No. 2016-30, the Traffic Safety Ordinance, directs the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to determine priority intersections for the placement of “No Trespassing” signs.
This long awaited safety measure is the result of residents working diligently together, and signifies the residents’ role as stakeholders in the revitalization of their community.
Supervisor Ally Miller voted in support of the Traffic Safety Ordinance and stated, “I want to thank the residents for their efforts to ensure the ordinance was finally passed. Residents first approached me about this problem in 2013. Now, with the passing of the Traffic Safety Ordinance, I am hopeful the residents will once again feel safe and secure in their neighborhoods.”
In April 2016, a public town hall was held in District 1, attended by Supervisor Ally Miller, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos and County Attorney Barbara LaWall where county residents expressed their grave concerns about panhandling along county highways. Following the public meeting, this ordinance was brought up once again to the Board of Supervisors and was passed. Supervisor Miller further stated, “The passing of the Traffic Safety Ordinance is an example of how communities and government can work together to problem-solve community issues. It’s a great example of collaboration, coordination, and community mobilization with government—approach communities can model to realize their full potential.”
During the town hall Nanos told residents he thought the issue had been resolved by the County’s Transportation Department despite the fact that both deputies and members of the public had continued to express their concerns.
District 1 resident and business owner, Dana Johnson, told the Board before the vote, “Both my home and my business are within a few hundred feet of the intersections where this is happening. And they are occupied on all four of the center median during the week. I am personally confronted with this about four to eight times a day because of my schedule. I am required to go through these intersections. I have teenagers, who will soon be driving and they don’t need more distractions. I – like the other gentleman at Orange Grove and LaCholla,” said Johnson referring to an earlier speaker, “have witnessed a gentleman peeing as I came out of a restaurant with my children.”
Homeless organizer, Brian Flagg, told the Board that he believed the ordinance was being passed for nefarious purposes. “Is it really about safety? I don’t think so. I think it’s about out of sight out of mind. I think there are people on this side of town who are tired of looking at the faces of human suffering,” stated Flagg.
Yet, area resident, Rita Graham, told the Board of others’ suffering. “I have seen mothers with baby carriages crossing in the middle of the road away from the intersection to avoid the beggars and vagrants. I believe the non-profit’s who have put them there should put their resources to directing them to better resources. Better services.”
According to some of the homeless, some organization has been delivering panhandlers to northwest neighborhoods on a daily basis. They have reported that panhandlers in the northwest neighborhoods can make between $80 and $100 a day.
Because the majority on the Board of Supervisors has been unfriendly to business, Pima County is home to the eighth poorest metropolitan area in the country. The job-killing Board has left many in dire straits, and panhandling has increased as a result.
Although there are 105 signalized intersections in unincorporated Pima County, this ordinance will only apply to 32 intersections identified by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department based on “public safety priority.”
The Board also voted unanimously to ban texting while driving.