Banning panhandling is unconstitutional. So Manatee County will try this

Manatee County has become the latest government to revise its panhandling ordinance due to a court decision late last year that the city of Miami’s ordinance was unconstitutional.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that panhandling and solicitation were forms of free speech protected under the First Amendment.

The city of Bradenton was forced to revise its ordinance in late June despite several recent complaints about aggressive panhandlers working intersections along Cortez Road. Complaints revealed that up to a dozen panhandlers working in unison were aggressively approaching vehicles and even attempting to open doors to demand money.

That, in and of itself, is a crime and municipalities are scrambling to find ways to adjust to the court’s ruling while protecting residents. Bradenton is considering adopting a city of Tampa requirement that panhandlers wear safety gear while near traffic.

Manatee County is taking a simpler approach, banning panhandlers from road medians, according to a revised ordinance approved on Tuesday.

Manatee County Sheriff’s Captain Stanley Schaeffer said the county will focus on traffic safety. The revised ordinance, he said, will allow law enforcement to inform panhandlers they need to move on if they are in the medians or impeding the flow of traffic.

Panhandlers are allowed to be on the sidewalks, but Schaeffer said the same rules apply if they block pedestrians or bicyclists.

“We can ask them to move out of the medians but can’t prohibit them from holding signs,” Schaeffer said. “Basically we are saying they can’t be in the roadway or the median. We get called six to 10 times a day as it is, but they can’t be moved unless they are prohibiting the movement of others.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2018 at 1:55 PM.