WHEELING, W.Va. — The City of Wheeling passed a Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety ordinance Wednesday night.
This ordinance prohibits the interaction between those operating a motor vehicle situated in a lane of traffic and pedestrians in the City of Wheeling.
The passage ends the legal act of panhandling in the city, as it was cited as a safety issue due to “near wrecks.”
Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder says he has witnessed some near misses himself.
“I have seen a lot of near misses,” Magruder said Monday. “People are meaning well, but they stop suddenly, people coming off the ramp at a little more accelerated speed (speaking on the Edgewood area). I have witnessed several near misses, and with that, I certainly am in favor of the ordinance.”
Council member Ben Seidler says this is a matter that needs addressed now rather than later.
“I would say that it’s our responsibility to address public safety issues head on,” Seidler said. “We’ve seen enough near misses, we’ve seen enough accidents at these intersections. It would be incredibly irresponsible for us to not be proactive. We mitigate risk by addressing risk, not waiting until someone dies.”
Before voting on the ordinance, Wheeling City Council held a public hearing on the matter.
Resident Kelly White says she wants to see the the council serve the homeless community in Wheeling rather than criminalize the act of panhandling.
“What I’m asking you is to consider working on serving our community, rather than criminalizing our most needy,” White said. “I’m an instructor at the Mother Jones Center in East Wheeling, and I regularly interact with people in the homeless community, and I just frankly can’t see how this is beneficial to any of them.”
Resident Logan Schmitt said he wanted to see more data be shown regarding accidents before the ordinance was voted on.
“You folks put a lot of things forward and we never see any of the actual data that comes with it. It seems to be a lot of on a whim or, ‘I heard this, I heard that,’ and then, next thing we know, we have a law infringing on our rights,” Schmitt said. “Before we pass this, or don’t pass this preferably, you could share with us some of the real, hard data that shows that this should be made a priority.”
Board member Connie Cain says she, too wants to see some data revolving the danger.
“It’s the same people out there. I would like to see a police report where somebody’s been arrested from attacking someone at the intersections. I would like to see some data of accidents before we put this in,” Cain said.
Cain also says she can see some grey area in the ordinance.
“If we start with just these intersections, how far is it going to go? Are they not going to be allowed on the sidewalks?” Cain said. “I do feel strongly about infringing on peoples’ rights to give.”
Cain’s vote of “no” against the ordinance was the lone opposing vote.