Retooled panhandling ordinance headed to Salt Lake City Council

SALT LAKE CITY — Even while the look and feel of downtown undergoes a sprawling transformation, as dozens of new buildings take shape and optimistic entrepreneurs breathe new life into vacant spaces, some scenes on the sidewalks of the city's core remain unchanged.

One of them is the inevitable encounter with those who hope you can spare a little change.

Complaints to the city, by both residents and business owners, indicate these encounters are increasingly less civil and, in some cases, downright hostile. An ordinance making its way toward the Salt Lake City Council in the coming weeks aims, according to city officials, to keep city streets hospitable while also protecting free-speech rights.

Merchant groups say panhandling hurts business and stigmatizes the "downtown experience."

But for Terry Wilkinson, who finds himself living on the streets, the generosity of strangers can be the difference between a meal or a hungry night.

Salt Lake City officials, along with a long list of stakeholders on the issue, have spent a year retooling a proposal put forward last summer that is characterized by advocates for the homeless as "draconian" and "unenforceable."

Now, a version that has found some level of favor with groups on both sides of the issue is headed for the City Council.

Jason Mathis, executive director of the Downtown Alliance, said his business association is pleased with the revised proposal.

"It's been a long process, but I think our general sense is that the city has done a great job trying to balance safety concerns, commerce concerns, with First Amendment concerns," Mathis said.

The new ordinance would prohibit panhandling within 10 feet of places like outdoor cafes, theater lines, ATMs, street vendors, churches or public transit stops. Less distinct language in the proposal forbids aggressive actions like following a person after a solicitation, making threatening gestures or causing a person to "take evasive action to avoid personal contact."

Mathis said the new rules will contribute to a "dynamic, diverse downtown that attracts people."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, however, sees a converse issue in the mandates of the ordinance.