Mayor D.C. Reeves and the Pensacola City Council cannot claim that they are unaware of problems concerning MLK Plaza’s sunset curfew. Downtown business owner Dan Lindemann told them about the issue with the police enforcing curfew at the council meeting on Dec. 12, 2024.
Details
On Dec. 2, 2024, Lindemann was walking across Martin Luther King Plaza on his way to the CivicCon Awards at the Studer Community Institute when he was unexpectedly stopped.
“I was stopped by a police officer, Officer Roper, and he said, ‘You can’t be here,’” Lindeman recounted. When Lindeman replied, “I don’t understand. What’s the problem?” The officer stated that the plaza “is a city park, it’s closed at night, can’t be here.”
The encounter left Lindeman “confused” because he had never known that a well?lit downtown sidewalk could be treated as off?limits to a resident on an ordinary evening walk.
‘A misdemeanor for walking on a city sidewalk’
Lindeman said he deliberately waited overnight to cool down before emailing the mayor the next morning to describe the incident and what he had been told. In that message, he wrote that the officer had given him a warning and indicated that “the next time I was in that park at dusk, I would be cited and issued a misdemeanor.”
- “So the DIB can light it up, put a beautiful tree canopy on it and invite people down. Yesterday, the city had a market on the Martin Luther King Plaza. At night, thousands of people were down there walking. So we invite people to come downtown and walk,” Lindeman told the council. “And then the next day, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cite you and give you a misdemeanor punishable up to a thousand bucks, 90 days in jail and an appearance in Escambia County Court.”
An Insult to taxpayers
What stung most, Lindeman said, was the message this sent to ordinary residents. “I was insulted, and I think anybody that’s a citizen in this city would be equally insulted that I cannot walk on a city sidewalk that you have invited me to enjoy and that my tax dollars have paid for,” he said.
“I’m being cited. You’ve got to be kidding me.” While emphasizing, “I loved the PPD, by the way. I love those guys,” he added that he “can’t believe we’re making them do this. It’s ridiculous,” forcing officers into confrontations over a rule many downtown users have never heard of.
Treating Plazas As Parks
Before coming to the meeting, Lindeman said he had checked the city’s website to confirm how the spaces are classified. “I went on the website, I looked at all the parks. Sure enough, Martin Luther King Plaza is listed as Dr. Martin Luther King Plaza, and it is a park, and the John Sunday Plaza, guess what? It’s a park also.”
- That designation, he argued, means his ordinary routine of leaving night meetings could technically expose him to the same threat: “When I walk out this building, I go out the back door, I’m going to walk across the John Sunday Plaza, and I want to be assured that I’m not going to be arrested for walking in a park at sunset.”
‘Get rid of this stupid thing’
Lindeman’s message to the council was direct and urgent. “So I’m begging my city council tonight to take immediate action,” he said. “You’ve got the authority, you can do it. Get rid of this stupid thing.”
December 2024 Email
Last night I was walking to the SCI Building to attend the CivicCon Awards Program when I was summoned by a PPD officer. The officer informed me that I was being given a WARNING about walking on the sidewalk in a CLOSED CITY PARK. I was also told that if i repeated this action, that I would be charged with a misdemeanor.As you know, I have occupied a building on N Palafox since 1987 and I have crossed the MLK hundreds of times without incident. I was not aware that the plaza was considered a City Park and closed at Sunset. I am having a hard time accepting the fact that this incident happened and that the City actually will be enforcing this ordinance.
I fully intend to walk in the MLK at all hours of the day and am actually looking forward to be being cited by the PPD.
You had better close the Christmas Market, that sets up in the MLK, before anyone gets arrested.Thank You for attention to this matter.
Dan Lindemann
Why does this matter? Check out Mayor Reeves’ comments at yesterday’s presser.
So I have run/jogged downtown for many years now at 5 or so. I guess I can be cited. Wow! Thanks Dan
I appreciate the additional information now added to this evolving issue. If the problem of MLK Plaza had been fixed in 2024, the city could have avoided the undue arrest of a generous community volunteer like Mike Kimberl.
The rule that defines a median and public sidewalk space as a park that closes at sunset (around 5pm in the winter) makes no sense from the standpoint of city residents and visitors. The city and downtown businesses are begging people to come downtown, enjoy all the sights, and spend money. I just treated a large group of out-of-town family to a downtown tour to show them our arts and culture, nightlife, and lights and decorations, including Winterfest activities. Does the mayor want me to stop doing that sort of thing for fear of ending up on the wrong side of his ordinances?
The city supposedly wants us there as customers, yet the PPD and DIB chase us out of our own public plazas that are designed as gathering spaces. This ordinance only makes sense for the purpose of selective enforcement toward people that they would rather not have around.
Change the ordinance.
The ordinance necessitating blanket enforcement here is stupid and clearly flawed. The solutions are simple but require confronting what public space is for and whose rights actually matter in practice.
1) If you believe that the homeless should not be allowed to gather in a public park (MLK Plaza) after dark, then the ordinance should be updated to allow traversal through the park after sunset while prohibiting stationary gatherings and loitering. Lindeman, and all other citizens, get to walk through the park at night without fear of citation.
2) If you believe that every person has equal rights (hello, MLK!), deserves dignity, and that feeding the homeless in a public park is a net positive, you extend MLK Plaza hours, just like several other City parks, to 9pm or 10pm. Volunteers like Kimberl get to keep up their great work and everyone can use the park for peaceful purposes up to a reasonable hour, while still preventing camping overnight. The ordinance becomes equitable and unambiguous. Enforcement is no more difficult.
These are the only two coherent paths.
Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with DC trotting up to the White House to worship at the Trump altar and hear how to start unrolling Trump’s heinous executive order to start detaining and arresting homeless. Ya think?
The whole situation is so unfortunate that one really shouldn’t laugh, but it is humorous to watch every time a clown car of mini autocrats comes careening in to try to BEEP BEEP their way through the public they think they rule.
SMH at what a dumb move this was. But my heart hurts for what is coming, if this is any sign of the unprofessional, immoral, and unconstitutional manner in which the Mayor and his downtown handlers are steering things.