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Laws banning smoking, aggressive panhandling in downtown Ashland seem to be paying off Monday Sep 5, 2016 at 12:01 AM Julie Akinsfor the Mail Tribune Ordinances passed earlier this year banning smoking, blocking sidewalks and aggressive panhandling downtown appear to be helping alleviate problems, local officials say. Sandra Slattery of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce says the people she's talked to say the ordinances have created a more peaceful and healthy downtown. “The no-smoking ordinance in particular has been positive for people," she says. "They say it’s enjoyable to walk downtown. It’s certainly something that’s very noticeable.”  As to other aspects of the ordinances and what some have described as a concerted effort to move the homeless out of town, Slattery says the chamber does not have that position. “I think Ashland is a draw for a lot of different sorts of people. Everyone is able to access the community as long as their behavior is positive. It’s about behavior for us. If people are following the laws and not accosting people, it’s their right to be here.”  She says chamber members appreciated city leaders taking input from residents and businesses in creating laws. “We heard from residents who didn’t want to be downtown and that’s changed," Slattery says. "I appreciate that they care about the health and wellness of people who live here and visit and that they listened to people and cared about what they said. It’s easy to be critical, but we should also say thank you when people put out the effort to try to make the community better.”  Ashland police Chief Tighe O’Meara says other developments downtown have helped as well. “The ordinances appear to have helped, but it’s not just because of the work the police are doing. The Ashland Peace Commission being downtown, the mental health worker, even though that’s new, has helped.” O'Meara has maintained that policing is only one part of dealing with problems surrounding the homeless. “A lot of what happens downtown is not a police problem but a mental health or a social problem," he says. Still, he says he is getting reports from downtown businesses and the Ashland Chamber of Commerce that it’s getting better.  As to the exact number of citations given downtown since the ordinances passed, O’Meara says he can assume there have been more tickets since there is greater enforcement and presence downtown, but he won’t have the numbers to calculate until the end of the year. Solving the issues downtown winds up creating new ones elsewhere, according to city councilor and mayoral candidate Carol Voisin, who says homelessness and the ordinances affecting downtown are related in the sense that many being ticketed under the new laws are the homeless who can’t pay the tickets. “Their basic need is a shelter, a safe place," Voisin said. "That can come in many forms. Ninety to 95 percent of the folks that were downtown and are homeless want a safe place and we’ve totally ignored what their real need is. I think not taking responsibility for what it's costing them is lack of foresight on the part of the community. We need to take another look at these ordinances.”  Homeless advocate Vanessa Martynse Houk echoes that concern. “I spend most Tuesday mornings sitting in the municipal court in Ashland, watching to see who is most affected by these recent laws … I am seeing a surge in homeless people caught up in a cycle of fines and warrants. When these laws were passed we were told that they were not meant to target the homeless, but who else is sitting on the sidewalk with their belongings?”  Houk, who organizes a Friday community meal with the Ashland Peace Commission for primarily homeless people, says while the intention may not have been to punish homeless people, that's often the outcome. “These ordinances have the biggest impact on our homeless population and (perhaps unintentionally) as a result are filling up the court dockets. I don't think the behaviors have changed. People are still homeless. They are still trying to find a place to sit down, generally in the middle of the downtown, and they still don't have anywhere safe to store their belongings. We have this system in place were the police have to move people from place to place and our city resources are tied up managing something that isn't working.” Email Ashland freelance writer Julie Akins at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/@julieakins.