CITY PANHANDLER ORDINANCE 4-14-17

Last night the Pensacola City Council moved a step closer to banning panhandlers in the city’s Downtown Visitors’ District, the area south of Wright Street to the bay, and west of Tarragona, to Spring Street. On a 5-2 vote – with members Sherri Myers and P.C. Wu opposing – the council approved the first reading of an ordinance that would ban the solicitation of donations in that area. The ordinance would prohibit any request for money or thing of value made in person on a street, sidewalk or public right-of-way and would include pleas made verbally, passively or by holding signs. It also would include street performers, such as musicians, although exemptions could be made, perhaps through a permitting process. A fifty-dollar citation would be issued for a first offense, with fines increasing for additional violations.