Guttenberg is latest to repeal 'outdated' loitering and disorderly persons ordinances

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

By KARINA L. ARRUE

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

GUTTENBERG - Loiterers and loafers here are getting a break. The town recently repealed two ordinances - one for loitering and another for disorderly persons - that are considered out of date. Other towns with similar ordinances on the books are being asked to repeal them as well.

The two ordinances were tossed at the request of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project, which has successfully had such ordinances removed in dozens of municipalities throughout the state.

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Wanaque amends its anti-loitering law

Sunday, February 14, 2010
BY TERESA EDMOND
Suburban Trends STAFF WRITER

Eleven years after the Supreme Court of the United States declared anti-loitering laws unconstitutional, the mayor and Borough Council on Feb. 9 adopted changes to the borough's anti-loitering ordinance to bring it into compliance with federal law.

Wanaque's repeal is "great," said John Paff, chairman of the Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project for the NJ Libertarian Party.

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Two more municipalities--Guttenberg (Hudson County) and Maplewood (Essex County) -- have repealed their loitering and similar ordinances at the request of the NJLP's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project. For the list of towns that have so far repealed their ordinances, see http://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/Loiter.html.

At the request of the Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project, the Borough of Wanaque (Passaic County) repealed the invalid portions of its "Peace and Good Order" Code on February 8, 2010. See http://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/Loiter.html.

The city of Long Branch in Monmouth County, at the NJ Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project's request, repealed its loitering ordinance on January 26th.

Of note is that Long Branch made the news last year when they detained Bob Dylan for loitering.

On November 24, 2009, Westampton Township (Burlington County) repealed its loitering ordinance at the request of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project. See http://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/Loiter.html.

The Township of Oldmans in Salem County, at the NJ Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Projects request, repealed its loitering ordinance as well as other provisions of its "Peace and Good Order" code. The repeal ordinance and my correspondence with Township Attorney John G. Hoffman are on-line at http://www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/LOldmans.pdf.

NJ Herald mentions the NJLP's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project.

When the “no loitering” signs went up, the late-night parties at the Culver Lake causeway stopped.

Rabble-rousers took heed and residents living near the causeway said they were no longer awakened in the middle of the night to the sounds of screaming party-goers. The shards of broken beer bottles and other remnants from the weekend parties also went away.

As useful as it may have been, Frankford’s loitering ordinance is not allowed to hang around the township’s law books. Last month, the township had to repeal the ordinance due to an oversight by the 2007 Township Committee that such laws were deemed unenforceable after a state Supreme Court ruling 27 years ago.

John Paff, chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project, has been working for three years to get municipalities to take the outdated laws off their books.

So far he has succeeded in getting 14 municipalities to remove the ordinances, including Andover Township and Newton.

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Andover Township (Sussex County) has become the fourteenth municipality to repeal its loitering ordinance at the request of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Pre-empted Ordinance Repeal Project. See LP Of Central NJ Loitering Page for more information

The NJLP's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project has recently succeeded in getting two Salem County municipalities--Pilesgrove Township and Woodstown Borough--to repeal their loitering ordinances.

Pilesgrove finalized the repeal of their ordinance on March 19th, Woodstown repealed their ordinance on March 24th.

For more information, see LP Of Central NJ Loitering Page