Pueblo City Council is expected to vote on a proposed no sit/no lie ordinance March 24 that would give the Pueblo Police Department a new “tool” to write citations as city officials continue to deal with issues surrounding the city’s unhoused population.
The proposed ordinance was discussed during a council work session March 3.
Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller told councilors the ordinance would apply to the business district area west of 13th and Elizabeth streets, east to Interstate 25 and south to the Arkansas River.
“If you were sitting, lying, kneeling, sleeping, etc., it would be unlawful to do that between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., and it would require us to give a warning before we issue a citation,” Noeller said of the ordinance.
“In my experience, which is limited, normally when we contact someone we get their cooperation and they move along,” he said.
Sgt. Chad Garcia, supervisor for Pueblo PD’s Directed Investigation and Community Engagement (DICE) team, reported the ordinance would be “a good tool for us to have to give us a little more teeth on the street if we come across someone blocking a public sidewalk, a business entrance or exit, and we can ask those folks to move along.”
“Most times they move on, but there are those times they just tell us, ‘No, we are not moving,’ so we would have a tool in our toolbelt to provide a citation,” Garcia said.
The DICE unit, which is comprised of Garcia and four officers, was formed to help combat lower-level crime such as loitering, trespassing, and suspicious people, as well as work to provide resources to any homeless individuals they encounter, according to a city press release.
“It is important to keep our sidewalks safe. We get calls from businesses daily,” Garcia said.
Business owners are reporting that unhoused people stop in front of their businesses every day, block doorways, sleep there and sometimes light fires, especially in places “along Northern Avenue where the doorways kind of sit back,” from the sidewalk, Garcia explained.
‘The penalty they would never pay’: Councilors react to ordinance
Mark Aliff, city council president, questioned how the new ordinance would differ from the city’s current loitering law.
“I don’t understand. If we already have it on the books, why would we add another ordinance? My concern is that it is redundant,” Aliff said.
Harley Gifford, deputy city attorney, said the new ordinance would be a Class 1 violation that would “allow for larger fines and greater punishment.”
“The penalty that they will never pay,” Aliff said.
Garcia also pointed out the new ordinance would not require a reporting party to call in a violation. He said that as officers drive through the city, it would allow them to “be more efficient and quicker” to address the problem.
Councilor Joe Latino said that “homeless people burned the entire second floor of a Main Street building.”
“We’ve got problems here and we need to come into the 21st Century,” he said.
“The Gread Divide (Bike Shop) has had its windows broken out several times and there have been break-ins in that area. One business owner on Union had to put metal shutters over the windows to protect the business,” Latino explained.
“We have a reputation and it is not a very good one,” he said.
Councilor Regina Maestri said the issue “is not safe for the community and why the Supreme Court ruled the way they did and gave cities the right to protect the safety and have a cleaner community.”
Maestri suggested the ordinance be amended to include North Side businesses and the area along Elizabeth Street.
Several other councilors voiced support for making the ordinance city-wide, including Aliff, who mentioned an instance during which he said a homeless person was urinating outside of a store in front of a mother and her small child as they were exiting the store.
Gifford said he initially believed the Downtown business area would be “a good pilot project to start with and see what kind of impact there is,” but he would do more research into whether it would be feasible to extend the boundaries of the no sit/no lie ordinance.
Gifford said similar ordinances are in place in Durango and Colorado Springs. The council will take up the issue again at its March 24 meeting.
Camping ban ordinance headed for revision
A Pueblo law that makes it illegal to camp on public property within city limits could be amended after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue. The high court ruled police departments do not have to establish there are beds available at a local shelter if they want to cite someone who is illegally camping on public property.
“If you (police) are going to contact someone and cite someone for camping, now you can enforce the camping ban whether you have space in the Rescue Mission or a similar facility or not,” Noeller told the council.
Noeller said Pueblo police officers would still inform people about the local homeless shelter.
“It would be our goal to try to get people housed for the evening rather than issue a citation. But now there is no longer a requirement under the law that we have space before we can enforce a camping ban,” Noeller explained.
That proposed amendment should be voted on at the council’s March 10 meeting.
Garcia said his officers issued 12 no-camping citations in 2024.
“This is such an emotional issue on all sides,” said Councilor Roger Gomez. “It is tough stuff for everyone, but I have got to listen to my constituent base and try to deal with this on an unemotional basis.”
Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via X at x.com/tracywumps. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.