On a 6-5 vote on Tuesday night the Anchorage Assembly voted and repealed the Anchorage law that made it illegal to sit on the sidewalks.

Debbie Ossiander and Dick Traini, two of the assembly members that voted for the bill in November were the sponsors of the repeal of the controversial sidewalk law.

Earlier in September, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan stated that no citations have been written by police in the city to people sitting on the sidewalk. The law made it illegal to recline or sit on a city sidewalk from 6 in the morning to midnight and until 2:30 am on Fridays and Saturdays.

It is only the section of the law that bans sitting on the sidewalk that was repealed. Other sections of the law remain intact. It still remains a crime to panhandle downtown or after dark, and a person still cannot impede pedestrians or vehicles.

Assembly members that voted to uphold the November law are Bill Starr, Chris Birch, Jennifer Johnston and Ernie Hall.

The law was spawned by Mayor Sullivan, and written up by city officials, after John Martin, a homeless man spent last summer and fall sitting and laying and standing on the sidewalk in protest to the mayor’s homeless policies.

Dick Traini called sitting on the sidewalk an American tradition and said, “Why they’re there is not our business. It’s owned by the public.”

Debbie Ossiander said that the law that she first voted for, “doesn’t feel right.”

Other west coast cities have sidewalk sitting ordinances in place. Seattle, Portland , Berkley, Santa Cruz, Pao Alto and San Fransisco are among them. Critics of the law say that it is a criminalization of homelessness as well as ordinary activities.

Sullivan says he still strongly supports the bill. After he vetoes the repeal it will take eight assembly members to override the veto.