After a two-hour debate regarding a proposed ordinance dictating the rights of drivers and pedestrians on roadways, the Columbia City Council decided Monday to table the issue until Feb. 2, 2026.
In its original wording, the proposal aimed to “(p)rovide additional safety protections for motorists and pedestrians” while also addressing the unhoused population, prohibiting occupation of a road median “except to lawfully cross such roadway.” It also aims to address illegal street crossings in “a major corridor roadway.”
The proposal identified 47 areas where the Columbia Police Department would enforce the rule if adopted.
The meeting attracted community members with differing opinions. Amongst the crowd were previous and current unhoused citizens. Worries that the ordinance’s vague wording could be used in an attempt to execute the “cleanup of homeless encampments,” as UM System President Mun Choi wrote in an early October email, were expressed.
“My clients already struggle to get resources that they need to survive,” Carissa Tarnowski Richardson, Boone County public defender, said. “By having the legislation like this, anyone that would be willing to offer them a handout or any kind of assistance, if they were to be on a median or a street corner or anything like that – it’s just going to hinder them and it’s going to get them trapped in a system that they’re not going to be able to find their way out of.”
Several disabled residents expressed concerns about how they’d be able to cross intersections during allotted traffic cycles.
“It says going across a traffic intersection, you only have two cycles of the traffic lights,” Columbia resident Alyce Turner said. “Well, when I cross at Stadium and Broadway, I can barely make it across in those two. I am a slow walker, and I don’t want to trip.”
The council heard testimonies from a variety of Columbia residents. Among those who spoke were a student who bikes through downtown Columbia to make it to class, a public defender concerned about the long road effect of the ordinance and
Turner, a senior who uses the median to protest.
“This is a First Amendment right,” Turner said. “I have the right to stand there with protest signs. You take that away from me, maybe the sidewalks are next. Maybe you’ll say, ‘and why are medians any more dangerous than sidewalks?’ They’re just as close to the roads. Somebody could fall on a sidewalk. So this bill really has many problems, but we do know that it is our First Amendment right to protest.”
Although many opposed the ordinance, some speakers believed it would make Columbia roads safer for all parties involved.
“I just think they should definitely vote yet, they’re just being so ticky tacky about all the laws, and I feel like to me it is really something that is an issue,” Columbia resident Aaron George said.
The resolution is set to be reviewed Feb. 2 after alterations are made and council members clarify their questions about the ordinance.
“I look forward to hearing back from our boards and commissions on recommendations for what we can do on this issue because people’s safety is our utmost concern,” Mayor Barbara Buffaloe said.
