SURPRISE! RI ACLU GETS INVOLVED IN CRANSTON PANHANDLING PROTEST

The RI affiliate of the ACLU is criticizing the City of Cranston for ticketing panhandlers who protested the new panhandling ordinance earlier this week. Protesters picketed at the intersection of Garden  City and Chapel Hill with Cranston cops doing their duty dishing out citations. Last month the Cranston City Council ok'd an ordinance prohibiting panhandling and other fundraising from people in cars on major streets. It replaced an ordinance that was abandoned last year following the settlement of a lawsuit by a panhandler who was represented by the ACLU. The ACLU calls the new ordinance another CLEAR violation of the First Amendment. This isn't exactly a stop the presses moment. It's what the ACLU's expected to do...but this time I don't think they've got much of a case. The ordinance is pretty specific targeting panhandling on major streets...it doesn't outlaw panhandling in general. Just take, for example, the intersection these protesters chose to picket. Talk about busy...talk about enough distractions to drivers....the last thing drivers need is adding a panhandler to that mix because that's a recipe for accidents.


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