Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs read the City Council’s annual proclamation honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday and encouraging people to commemorate the late civil rights leader by doing community service projects in the upcoming week.

Rev. James Ray with the Second Baptist Church in Boulder accepted the proclamation from the council. Ray said King’s quest and vision for justice and peace continues to live on.

“I’m hoping that the group of people here within the sound of my voice realize Dr. King’s vision was not one that was just stuck in the ’60s, so to speak, but it continues throughout our lives in our actions and in our thoughts,” Ray said. “I ask that you all consider the work of Dr. King and allow that to be a sort of gauge and compass, not only morally, but spiritually as you go through your day-to-day activities.”

Ray and the council encouraged people to attend the annual Martin Luther King Day celebration at Silver Creek High School on Monday.

The event, called All Cultures One Voice Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will include gospel choirs, art by black artists and dramatizations. A service project will start at 9 a.m. Monday and the program will start at 10 a.m., Ray said.

Strider “Arkansas” Benston spoke to the council during the public-comment portion of the meeting. Benston has been an active civil rights advocate and was clubbed over the head during a march on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala., in 1965.

“The last time I met Dr. Martin Luther King, he called for me to meet him in Washington and I was called Arkansas then. He sent me back to Alabama with $25 and a plane ticket and he said, ‘give ’em hell, Arkansas,'” Benston said.

Panhandling and camping bans

The City Council unanimously repealed two ordinances related to panhandling on first reading as part of their consent agenda Tuesday with no discussion.

The ordinances prohibited “aggressive begging” and “solicitation in or near a street or highway.” City Attorney Eugene Mei wrote in an email on Friday that the city opted to repeal the ordinances as a preemptive measure after a federal court ruled that similar laws in Grand Junction violated the First Amendment.

There are still ordinances in place in Longmont that prohibit obstructing streets, sidewalks or highways, assault and harassment. Staff is researching a safety-based ordinance that would ban pedestrians from certain intersections in Longmont, but that isn’t due to come back to council until later in the year.

Longmont resident Ryan Rivas spoke to the council during public comment about his concerns for the homeless community.

Rivas said he was particularly concerned about news that Longmont business owners were lobbying City Council to implement a camping ban.

Rivas said a camping ban would be morally wrong as well as a bad decision financially because camping bans are expensive to enforce.

“I think we need to take a different approach and change the narrative around homelessness. People see them as very negative stereotypes, the homeless population,” Rivas said. “We need to change the narrative by changing the policies. Stop criminalizing homelessness and start integrating them into society. Give them housing and invest in them so they can contribute and be a part of our society.”

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci