Gaithersburg Ordinance Ruled Unconstitutional

A controversial Gaithersburg ordinance making it illegal for anyone to seek work or hire workers on most city streets, sidewalks and parking areas was deemed unconstitutional in an opinion released yesterday by Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.

In a 46-page opinion, Gansler and Assistant Attorney General William R. Varga wrote that the city's anti-solicitation ordinance, which went into effect last year upon the opening of a day-laborer center in Gaithersburg, is not narrowly tailored enough to withstand legal scrutiny.

"The portions of the Gaithersburg ordinance that are not preempted by state law regulate speech in a traditional public forum," they wrote in the opinion. "While those provisions are content neutral, they are not narrowly tailored to serve the designated purposes of public safety and traffic flow.

"Accordingly, in our view, the ordinance would not survive a constitutional challenge."

In recent years, issues related to immigration and day laborers have roiled Gaithersburg and figured prominently during last fall's municipal election.

In light of Gansler's opinion, Mayor Sidney Katz, who helped enact the anti-solicitation ordinance, said yesterday that he and other town officials will discuss other options to regulate day laborers.

"We thought that this would be considered to be a constitutional ordinance," Katz said. "Others have disagreed."