City council approves changes to Oklahoma City's median safety ordinance

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Council has approved changes to the city's median safety ordinance.

The ordinance now only prohibits pedestrians on medians for streets with speed limits of 40 mph or higher. The changes came as a response to the breadth of the original ordinance which went into effect in January 2016 and prohibited standing or sitting on medians based on the size of the median.

The changes begin immediately. Violators of the ordinance face fines of up to $100, plus court costs. The ACLU of Oklahoma says they believe the city's median ordinance is still unconstitutional despite the change.

"From the beginning, this ordinance has been about limiting the First Amendment rights of Oklahoma City’s indigent population and sweeping visible evidence of poverty under the rug. Like the ordinance as originally passed, today’s amendment makes the public no safer. Instead it only serves to drag already costly litigation out further. If the City Council is truly interested in protecting the residents they ostensibly serve, they cannot continue to punish the poor under the guise of protecting public safety. We will continue to litigate this case until this ordinance is repealed or ruled to be the unconstitutional.”