The Las Cruces City Council Chamber was packed on Monday amid votes for two contentious ordinances addressing solicitation and shopping carts within the city’s limits.
Among other provisions, the ordinances would impose penalties for individuals soliciting in the road or on narrow medians, and people in possession of shopping carts outside of a business’s property.
Penalties for each infraction include potential jail time and fines up to $500 per infraction, although advocates of the bill, including Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story, point out that a judge could sentence a convicted person to substance abuse and mental health counseling.
Dozens of community members and state legislators, business owners, and community organizations voiced an array of opinions to the city council in a meeting that lasted nearly seven hours. Ultimately, both ordinances passed in a 4-3 split vote.
Mayor Eric Enriquez and Councilors Becki Graham, Cassie McClure, and Bill Mattiace voted in favor of the ordinances. Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo and Councilors Becky Corran and Yvonne Flores opposed.
During the public commenting period and after the first vote, Democratic State Senator Carrie Hamblen spoke against the ordinances, saying she felt they didn’t address serious crime, and would only work to hide poverty within the city.
“If there are communities and there are groups that are providing services to the unhoused, we need to continue to support them. If there are issues that law enforcement can’t address because we don’t have enough resources to do that, then we need to provide those resources. That’s what I feel our job is as a legislature,” Hamblen said. “When you start misrepresenting crime in the community, and targeting the most vulnerable, then you’re doing a disservice to the community, and you’re not representing your constituents well enough, and thoughtful enough, and truthful enough.”
Just as the council’s vote was a split, the public commenting periods were also representative of the community’s disagreement of how best to deal with public safety and the city’s unhoused population.
Speaking after the meeting, current councilor for the city’s second district Bill Mattiace said he agreed with Police Chief Story’s sentiment that more needs to be invested into housing and mental health programs, but that the ordinances are a step in the right direction.
“If we could bring the cost of living down, and we could provide the food services, clothing services, shelters, I think we could probably take care of the unhoused numbers. My only worry is fiscal sustainability. How many hundreds or thousands of people can we actually take care of? So, I think this is a good [sign] to a lot of people that would come up to Las Cruces that maybe there is law and order,” Mattiace said. “There are some challenges to actually stealing carts and breaking into stores. So now our small businesses are going to be protected and at the same time, the unhoused will be helped, I think it’s a win-win.”
When speaking to the council, Chief Jeremy Story said that the LCPD would not begin fining or arresting individuals immediately, and instead said enforcement would be approached with tiered implementation.
“There would be education first. There would be an effort to plug people into services before taking enforcement action. Essentially, we’re trying to gain voluntary compliance, and that’s true for a number of criminal offenses that we already confront,” Chief Story said.
As the city navigates these new regulations, the ongoing debate within the community and local government underscores a broader struggle to address the complexities of homelessness and public safety in Las Cruces.
