Dominic Anthony Walsh, HPM

In the two months following the Houston City Council's vote to expand the so-called civility ordinance, the Houston Police Department issued more than 500 tickets to homeless people — marking the highest two-month rate of citations since Mayor John Whitmire took office last year.

Houston Public Media analyzed 10 years of citation data from Houston's municipal courts related to two city rules — the civility ordinance , which prohibits sitting, lying down or placing personal possessions on sidewalks in certain parts of the city during the day; and the sidewalk obstruction ordinance , which generally prohibits blocking sidewalks across the city at all hours. In mid-July, the city council expanded the civility ordinance to be in effect 24/7 in the downtown and

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