By WPRO News

A federal judge on Tuesday accepted a settlement in the four-year long lawsuit against the City of Cranston by the ACLU of Rhode Island on behalf of several individuals and homeless groups, declaring the city’s anti-panhandling lawsuit unconstitutional, in what the civil liberties group said amounted to “criminalizing poverty”.

Cranston Mayor Kenneth Hopkins, who was a member of the City Council that adopted the ordinance in February, 2017, said in a statement that he authorized the settlement, pointing to the judge’s contention that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of the lawsuit.

“This is a significant victory for the exercise of First Amendment rights,” said ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger in a statement.

“Our lawsuit established beyond question that there is simply no valid ‘public safety’ basis for interfering with a person’s constitutional right to leaflet or to ask for help from other members of the public. We applaud the City’s new administration for recognizing this fact and agreeing to end efforts to criminalize asking for financial assistance on city streets, sidewalks and medians,” Labinger said.

The ACLU brought the lawsuit on behalf of the R.I. Homeless Advocacy Project, two Cranston residents and a formerly homeless person.

“When I reviewed the case with legal counsel, I felt that it was time to end the pursuit of this worthwhile public safety effort,” said Hopkins in a statement.

“My responsibility as Cranston’s Mayor is to exhibit leadership and make difficult decisions. The settlement of this case is warranted,” he said.