Hopkinsville City Council will consider an ordinance that prohibits jaywalking on some of the city’s busiest streets and will make it illegal for sidewalk panhandlers to step into a street to take cash from a motorist.
The ordinance is on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting.
If adopted, it would apply to the following streets downtown: East and West Seventh Street, East and West Ninth Street, South Main Street, South Virginia Street and Walnut Street
It would also include Fort Campbell Boulevard from 21st Street to Pennyrile Parkway.
In addition, the restrictions would apply to the first 200 feet of any street the intersects with those identified in the ordinance.
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The ordinance states:
“No person shall cross an arterial roadway at any place except in a crosswalk. Where there is no crosswalk, a person shall cross only at an intersection in which traffic control signals or other devices are in place. Where there is no crosswalk nor traffic control signals or devices, a person shall cross an arterial roadway only at an intersection.”
In addition, pedestrians could not approach a vehicle in the street, except one that is legally parked at a curb or shoulder.
Fines would include: up to $100 for a first offense, up to $200 for a second offense and up to $300 for a third or subsequent offense.
Tuesday’s council meeting, at the Hopkinsville Municipal Building, begins at 6 p.m.
The ordinance would require two readings to be adopted.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
