Starting this week, a new ordinance prohibits people from sitting and lying on sidewalks located in a large swath of downtown Pasco. Between the hours of 6 a.m. and midnight, police can enforce the ordinance.
This comes after growing concerns about keeping Pasco sidewalks clear — for business traffic, community health and public safety reasons.
Pasco City Council approved the ordinance at their regular city council meeting last week. It goes into effect today, 10 days after signing.
The two-square-mile zone covers most of the business district in downtown Pasco surrounding Lewis Street, east from Tacoma Street and west to 10th Avenue.
“The intent is to improve the usability of the downtown area both by visitors, customers and business owners,” Pasco Police Lt. Tom Groom said. “It is difficult to entice people to come down to a business if they are going to have to weave through people occupying the sidewalks and obstructing the flow of foot traffic.”
Officers will enforce the ordinance by first, providing a warning and documenting contact with the individual who is unlawfully sitting or lying. The person will be given a reasonable amount of time to comply.
If someone goes on to sit and lie in another location within the zone, or they refuse to comply completely, the officer can arrest them. Violation is a misdemeanor.
“Somebody who owns a business is trying to put forth a product and interact with customers — to have to do so in an environment where people are sleeping on sidewalks, making it uncomfortable for other people to come in, and urinating and defecating, it doesn’t make customers want to go to those places,” Groom said.
“Most people would go somewhere where they don’t have to deal with those challenges,” he continued. “That’s not what we want our business owners to experience. We want people to want to come down here.”
The owners of Pasco’s Imbibe and Ciao Trattoria, Susanne and Jessie Ayala, said that people sitting or lying in the alcove entryways of their restaurants have prevented business. They aim for the restaurants to be destinations for people who may not live in or visit Pasco regularly.
“It will be interesting to see what happens after the change,” Susanne said. “It’s one thing to have an ordinance and it’s another to enforce it.”
Pasco police officers are being trained on the geographic zone, the warning process, proper documentation and the misdemeanor charge.
The city has plans to have outreach with the public and business owners about the new ordinance. It is also posted on the city’s website.
There has previously been a sit and lie ordinance in Pasco, but it isn’t currently being enforced, due to legal defense.
“There’s been some case law describing what and how a municipality can enforce as far as a sit and lie law,” Groom said. “What we had previously didn’t hold up to scrutiny.”
