In rewriting its rules for street solicitation, the newly elected Herndon Town Council hopes that it has finally closed the door on a nearly six-year battle over immigrant rights that roiled the county and led to a change in the town's leadership.
The council voted 4-3 very early Wednesday morning to change a law that banned any solicitations on the street and, immigrant advocates claim, effectively made it illegal for mostly Hispanic day laborers to seek work.
Though the change appears innocuous -- residents now can solicit from the sidewalks and adjacent grass areas but not in the roadways -- it generated two hours of public debate before the council's vote and exposed deeper tensions within the community.
More than half of those who addressed the council said amending the law would help convince Hispanic residents that the town welcomed them, despite beliefs to the contrary. Others insisted the law remain as is, saying that anything less would mean giving in to pressure from the immigrant rights group Virginia New Majority.
The vote was seen as a victory for Virginia New Majority, which lobbied for the law's repeal, saying it unfairly targeted Hispanic residents. The group said the law was one more way to push Hispanics out of the town, after the closure of a day laborer center in 2005.
But for the mayor and most of the six council members, four of whom replaced council members who had supported the solicitation ban, the debate was about street safety alone, and they said was time for the city to put its past behind it.
"The council will not be addressing this issue again," said Mayor Steve DeBenedittis, who voted against the amendment. "Rather, it is our intent to focus on the many issues ... for which we were elected and to which we will dedicate our time, energy and efforts going forward."
Vice Mayor Lisa Merkel voted for the amendment, but ultimately agreed with DeBenedittis and voiced irritation with Virginia New Majority.
"After tonight, we will move on," Merkel said.
Merkel insisted that her vote did not represent kowtowing to pressure from the immigrant community's advocates, but was based on legal sense and safety.
"I've heard people say tonight that it gets old being told you're a bigot," Merkel said. "Well, I imagine it does. It also gets old being told you're being controlled by groups you really have no affiliation with."
