City of Gadsden cracks down on 'aggressive panhandling'

Greg Bailey, The Gadsden Times
·4 min read

It’s not illegal to panhandle or beg in Gadsden. That can’t happen under the U.S. Constitution.

However, the city is cracking down on people who won’t take “no” for an answer by outlawing “aggressive panhandling” in its city code.

The City Council on Tuesday approved the repeal and replacement of Section 90-92 in the code, dealing with panhandling, begging and solicitations.

The move — supported by six council members with one abstention (Larry Avery) — seeks according to the revised code language to “protect citizens from the fear and intimidation accompanying certain kinds of panhandling and begging that have become an unwelcome presence in the city.”

The code revision has been discussed at recent precouncil meetings, with tales of sidewalk panhandlers particularly in the downtown area blocking the entrances to businesses and impeding or harassing people walking the sidewalks to shop.

U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins in March ruled Alabama’s state law against panhandling unconstitutional, closing a three-year case from Montgomery brought by people who had been jailed for the offense.

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over this area, in 2017 overturned a Florida ban on panhandling, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling in Reed v. Town of Gilbert (Arizona) barring content-related restrictions on speech.

However, City Attorney Lee Roberts has noted that the 11th Circuit also has given cities leeway on combating aggressive panhandling, if constitutional rights are recognized and protected.

“The United States Supreme Court has said you have a constitutional right to beg for money, to speak or to solicit donations,” council member Jason Wilson said following the vote. “This is not intended to infringe on that in any way.

“However ... if you ask someone if they have some spare change, and they say ‘no,’ and you keep asking them and keep asking them, and you follow them around the corner or to their car, or you follow them down the street, that’s considered aggressive,” Wilson said.

He said he spends “just about every day of my life downtown” at some point, and virtually every day he’s asked for money, and he’ll at least offer to buy food for those soliciting. “But we all know, there’s a handful of about eight or 10 offenders that are aggressive, they’re mean, they’ll intimidate people and will approach anybody, even families with young children,” he said. “Those are the ones we’re trying to address here.”

The revised code language would do that by barring aggressive begging and panhandling and limiting where those activities can take place at all.

While acknowledging “the constitutional right of persons to panhandle,” the revision cites “an increase in aggressive panhandling and begging throughout the city.” It says such behavior has become “extremely disturbing to residents and businesses” and contributed to “the lack of access to and enjoyment of public places” and an “enhanced sense of fear, intimidation and disorder as well as actual danger to the health, safety and welfare of citizens and tourists alike.”

It defines aggressive panhandling as:

  • Approaching someone for money in a way that would make a reasonable person think imminent bodily injury or a criminal act could result;

  • Maintaining contact with someone after that person has said “no” to a request for money;

  • Obstructing or impeding, individually or as part of a group, someone who has declined to provide money;

  • Touching people, or their vehicles, who have declined to provide money ;

  • Anything else that could be reasonably construed as intended to intimidate, compel or force someone to provide money.

The revised code specifically states that aggressive panhandling is unlawful on any sidewalk, highway, street, roadway, right of way or parking lot within the city limits, as well as the lobbies, entranceways, plazas or common areas of any public building.

It also states such behavior is unlawful on private property if an owner, tenant or lawful occupant has told a panhandler to move on or if there’s a sign clearly posted that solicitations are prohibited. The same goes if it targets drivers or occupants of vehicles.

Moving forward, panhandling of any type is barred:

  • Within 20 feet in any direction of the entrance or exit of a commercial establishment; a bus or trolley stop or public transportation facility; an ATM; city-owned and operated parking sites; or a public restroom operated by a governmental agency;

  • Within 100 feet in any direction of any daycare or K-12 school;

  • Within 150 feet of any intersection with a traffic signal;

  • At any outdoor dining amphitheater, amphitheater seating area, playground or outdoor merchandise area in use at the time;

  • At any transit stop or while riding a public transit vehicle;

  • While those being solicited are standing in line to get into a commercial establishment;

  • After dark.

Panhandlers are also barred from touching, using profane or abusive language or making threatening gestures toward those being solicited.

Violations could be punished by up to six months in jail and/or a fine of up to $500.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden targets aggressive panhandling