Report: Downtown Tempe businesses want homeless off sidewalks

PHOENIX — Business owners in downtown Tempe are reportedly pushing to have homeless people banned from sidewalks.

The Phoenix New Times reports businesses have complained that homeless people block access to stores and add an unfriendly air to the downtown area.

“It’s even to the point where my staff does not want to take the trash out at night after we close because they feel unsafe with all of them sitting around everywhere,” Zach Cobian, owner of Rita’s Ice, wrote in an e-mail to the City Council.

Tempe has bans in place on both aggressive panhandling and urban camping. It used to have an ordinance that prohibited the homeless from sitting on sidewalks, but dropped it last year. Business owners would like to see that reinstated.

Opponents of the ordinance said it discriminates against the homeless and may be unconstitutional. A Boise, Idaho law banning sleeping in public was ruled unconstitutional because the city did not have enough shelter space.

“Sleeping is a life-sustaining activity,” the [U.S. Department of Justice] wrote in a statement of interest. “If a person literally has nowhere else to go, then enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance against that person criminalizes her for being homeless.”

In a recent council meeting, members were divided over the topic. Councilwoman Robin Arredondo-Savage argued the council should heed what stakeholders — business owners — want, while Councilwoman Lauren Kuby called the complaints “callous.”

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