After hours of public comment and debate through the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Herndon City Council voted 4-3 in favor of amending a street solicitation ordinance, bringing the law more in line with the demands of immigrant-rights groups.
The original law, passed in June 2010, forbid anyone from selling, begging or advertising not only on roadways, but on their adjacent sidewalks and grassy strips. The amendment narrows the forbidden area to roadways and the curb. Immigrant-rights groups such as New Virginia Majority have been advocating furiously for repeal of the law, or at least amending it, because they believe its intent was to discriminate against the area’s mostly-Hispanic day laborers.
Much as the majority of council members tried to ensure the public that the law, and the amendment, was about nothing more than street safety for all residents, public comments suggested that residents had more on their minds. Those in favor of amending the law tried to persuade the council that it would make Hispanics feel less targeted in the community. Those in favor of keeping the law as is tried to persuade the council that the law was about safety alone, and not to buckle under pressure from out-of-town advocacy groups.
Councilwoman Grace Han Wolf cast the deciding vote in favor of the amendment, saying it made more legal sense than the original. Despite handing the immigrant-rights groups a small victory, she reserved harsh words for Virginia New Majority and anyone who claimed the law had racist undertones.
“This council is not a hateful council,” she said. “I am confident that everyone on this dais, regardless of his or her vote on this particular amendment, is committed to making this a united hometown.”
