Gail Sacco talks Monday in Huntridge Circle Park about the need to help homeless people. Sacco spoke after the postponement of a hearing regarding a citation she was given for feeding people in the park on Maryland Parkway south of Charleston Boulevard. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

The case against two women cited while feeding the homeless was delayed after an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said he would challenge the Las Vegas ordinance in federal court.

City marshals cited Gail Sacco and Lyla Bartholomae on Feb. 19 for having a gathering of 25 people or more at Huntridge Circle Park without a permit. Sacco was told by a marshal that she could not return to the park for six months. If she did, he warned, she would be charged with trespassing.

The two were cited while serving hot food, as they usually do, to the homeless at the park on Maryland Parkway, just south of Charleston Boulevard.

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel of the ACLU of Nevada, said that he would file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance within a few weeks.

The city's ordinance, he said, was unconstitutionally broad and vague. Under the ordinance, Lichtenstein said, a single protester at a park who attracted a crowd of hecklers could be cited if 25 or more people showed up.

He also said that the practice of banning people from parks goes around the right to due process.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic said he was surprised about the announced lawsuit because the city, Sacco and the ACLU have been in discussions about a compromise that would allow homeless people to get services they need without congregating in a way that causes neighbors to complain.

"The city has absolutely nothing against people trying to help homeless," Jerbic said. "But there is a right time, place and manner for it. We want to work with Gail to do this in the most productive manner possible."

Sacco said that nothing of substance has come of conversations with the city.

"They did ask me if I was willing to move and go to a different park," she said. "I told them at the meeting I am willing to work with the neighbors and the city to find an alternate plan and also to help make everybody as happy as possible."

She added, "What I'm not going to do: I'm not going to help them hide the homeless problem."

The city offers permits, but only at a limited number of its parks and not at Circle Park. Sacco said permits would cost $50 a day, a prohibitive cost for her.

In June, she began going to Circle Park about once a week to serve hot meals such as spaghetti. As she got to know those at the park, she started providing them with clothes, transportation to appointments and other services. In August, members of the Las Vegas city marshal's office, which is tasked with policing the parks, approached her. "Some were polite, some weren't," she said. "I don't want to call it harassment, but that's what it is."

Sacco and Bartholomae were cited Feb. 19. Bartholomae could not be reached to comment.

The city's ordinance says any gathering of 25 people or more or "any person who desires to conduct some event in which it could reasonably be assumed that twenty-five or more persons might gather at a park" needs a permit.

Monday morning, Municipal Judge Abbi Silver decided to delay hearing Sacco and Bartholomae's cases until after the lawsuit is filed. Though the charge is a misdemeanor, it is punishable by up to six months in jail or a fine of up to $1,000, Lichtenstein said.

Despite her supposed six-month ban from the park, Sacco said, homeless continue to get fed, often with the help of groups such as Food Not Bombs, with which she sometimes volunteers.

"A lot of days, I've been across the street, protesting with signs to bring public awareness of the homeless problem," she said.