Santa Fe's median bill clears panel as final vote delayed to June

May 21—A controversial measure that would prohibit standing on medians less than 3 feet wide in Santa Fe has been postponed to at least mid-June for a final City Council vote.

The proposal, introduced by Mayor Alan Webber, was scheduled for a final vote May 29 but has been pushed to a June 12 meeting following delays in the committee review process.

The measure to prohibit sitting or standing on a city median less than 3 feet wide is modeled on similar legislation from Sandy City, Utah, that withstood a legal challenge in the 10th Circuit Court. It has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and advocates for the homeless, who describe it as a covert attempt to ban panhandling.

Webber and other supporters say the measure is needed to improve road safety in a region notorious for its high number of car crashes.

The council's Public Works and Utilities Committee voted on the measure for the first time Monday after postponing it at a previous meeting, citing a need for more information from city staff.

Committee members voted unanimously to approve an amendment by Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth lowering the penalty for violations and voted 3-1 in favor of the ordinance.

Councilor Michael Garcia abstained and Councilor Alma Castro voted no.

"I do think we are all very interested in the safety of our pedestrians. I just don't feel this is necessarily the right direction," Castro said after the vote. She thanked Romero-Wirth "for thinking about changing some of the penalties."

Romero-Wirth's amendment would make it illegal to sit, stand or lie in the median and changed the infraction to a "penalty assessment misdemeanor," which comes with a $25 fine, the same as jaywalking. The original penalty could have included up to a $500 fine or 90 days in jail, though city staff have said police and the municipal judge would have wide latitude in determining a penalty for an offender.

Garcia has an additional amendment pending he said was inspired by a discussion of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, which he chairs. It would allow people to wait at a median in an intersection for two traffic light cycles without being penalized to make it safer to cross busy city streets.

His amendment is bing reviewed by the City Attorney's Office. City Attorney Erin McSherry said Monday she hadn't had time to look at it. The final vote on the ordinance may be delayed further if the amendment is not introduced by May 29.

Councilors have had questions about how many medians the ordinance would apply to and how it would be enforced by police.

Public Works Director Regina Wheeler said Monday the city's data shows only 47 out of 519 medians are less than 3 feet wide.

"A huge lion's share are 36 inches wide or more," Wheeler said. She did not yet have list of the 47 medians.

Santa Fe Police Capt. Thomas Grundler, who leads the department's Support Operations Division, said the agency already receives frequent calls regarding activity in medians including fights, unleashed dogs and aggressive panhandling.

The ordinance "would be very helpful" to address some of those problems, he said.

The city has an anti-panhandling ordinance, but it is not enforced for legal reasons, Assistant City Attorney Marcos Martinez said.

Grundler provided information about car crashes over the past several years in Santa Fe, including 69 last year that involved pedestrians, six of which were deadly.

"Anything we can do to help with pedestrian safety is going to be welcome," he said.

Grundler said he could not answer a question from Garcia about whether any of those crashes involved people standing in medians.

Garcia said he wanted more concrete data pointing to medians as a problem.

"I want to make sure we can attribute these incidences to medians because we can throw out all kinds of numbers out there, but if we can't say that that's the cause, I really have a challenge with it," he said.

Councilor Lee Garcia, who said he supports the measure, asked Grundler if it would be a useful tool for keeping people safe if it only applies to about 10% of medians.

Grundler said that largely depends on which medians qualify. If it kept people off medians on St. Francis Drive and Cerrillos Road, where many of the city's vehicle-pedestrian crashes have occurred in recent years, that would be "great," he said.

But if the medians in question are on smaller streets with slower traffic, he added, "then I don't know how helpful it's going to be."