A.
In order
to protect and promote the rights of the general public to be free
from inappropriate conduct and from the intimidating physical confrontations
associated with panhandling, the City Council finds that there is
a need to adopt a City ordinance which imposes reasonable and specific
time, place, and manner limitations on those forms of inappropriate
and unlawful conduct which may be associated with abusive and active
panhandling. At the same time, the Council seeks to properly and duly
recognize, as well as protect to the fullest extent possible, the
First Amendment free speech rights of all concerned.
B.
The
Council finds that balancing the need for public safety with the need
to protect constitutional rights is especially critical in certain
popular retail and visitor-serving areas of the City. Specifically,
Cabrillo Boulevard, lower Milpas Street, and certain blocks of State
Street (those within the City Central Business District) are popular
public gathering spaces and are often crowded with members of the
public and visitors to the Santa Barbara area. Moreover, these areas
provide only limited public amenities, such as public seating and
outdoor dining areas, and members of the public should be free to
use those areas without fear of coercive panhandling with its attendant
risk of fraud, intimidation and violence. The Council further finds
that, because these areas of Santa Barbara often have thousands of
visitors each day and because there is limited public seating and
gathering areas available within these blocks of these streets, it
is necessary and appropriate to provide panhandling regulations which
prevent some persons from monopolizing the use of a public bench or
a public seating area, as well as nearby sidewalk areas, for active
panhandling. There is therefore a necessity for the City Council to
adopt regulations which provide for the shared and reasonable use
of these public facilities by all members of the public, especially
the elderly and persons with special access needs.
C.
The
City Council further finds that panhandling near automated bank teller
machines is particularly problematic because persons who use such
machines may have large quantities of cash in their possession and
generally feel vulnerable to attack or intimidation. Likewise, active
panhandling on buses and other forms of public transportation threatens
the person being solicited because they are in a confined space with
no means of leaving the area in order to avoid being panhandled.
D.
The
City Council finds that these panhandling regulations will not prevent
those persons who wish to solicit alms or charitable donations from
appropriately using public benches and public seating facilities within
these areas of the City for temporary respite purposes, nor will these
panhandling regulations impact the content of any protected forms
of expressive statements made by a panhandler or otherwise improperly
restrict anyone's First Amendment rights.
E.
The
City Council also finds that these panhandling regulations have been
demonstrated, by careful mapping of the regulated areas which has
been considered by Council, to leave open ample alternative locations
within the City for active and passive panhandling. Active panhandling
on or near public benches and seating areas is prohibited only in
the most crowded and intensely used areas of the City's commercial
districts, and even with those areas many areas are open for active
and passive panhandling.
(Ord. 5499, 2009; Ord. 5689, 2015)
The following words or phrases as used in this chapter shall
have the following meanings:
To do one or more of the following acts while engaging in
panhandling or immediately thereafter:
Blocking or impeding the passage or the free movement of the
person panhandled;
Following the person panhandled by proceeding behind, ahead
or alongside of him or her after the person panhandled declines to
make a donation;
Threatening, either by word or gesture, the person panhandled
with physical harm or an assault;
Abusing the person being panhandled with words which are offensive
and inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction;
Touching the person being panhandled without that person's consent;
or
Engaging in Active Panhandling in any of the prohibited places
or under any of the circumstances specified in Section 9.50.030.B
of this chapter.
A gift of money or other item of value and including the
purchase of an item for an amount far exceeding its value under circumstances
where a reasonable person would understand that the purchase is in
substance a gift.
Forms of Panhandling. Panhandling may occur in two forms as
follows:
Active Panhandling. Any verbal request made by one person to
another person seeking a direct response of an immediate donation
of money or other item of value.
Passive Panhandling. The act of only passively displaying a
sign or using any other nonverbal indication that a person is seeking
donations without addressing a verbal request or solicitation to any
specific person, other than in response to an inquiry from that person.
(Ord. 5499, 2009)
A.
Abusive
Panhandling Prohibited. Abusive Panhandling is unlawful and prohibited
entirely within the city of Santa Barbara.
B.
Active
Panhandling Restricted. Active Panhandling is prohibited when the
person being panhandled is in any of the following locations:
1.
Waiting
at a bus stop;
2.
In
a vehicle on a public street or alleyway;
3.
In
a City parking lot or parking structure without regard to whether
the person is in a vehicle or not;
4.
Within
25 feet of an outdoor dining area of a restaurant or other dining
establishment serving food for immediate consumption;
5.
Within
50 feet of an automated bank teller machine;
6.
Within
25 feet of a queue of persons waiting to gain admission to a place
of business or to a vehicle, or waiting to purchase an item or admission
ticket; or
7.
On
buses or other public transportation vehicles.
(Ord. 5499, 2009; Ord. 5689, 2015)
Active Panhandling is prohibited while seated on or otherwise
using a public bench or seating area (including any landscape planter
or other public street furniture which can be sat upon), and within
25 feet of such benches and seating areas, within the following areas
of the City:
A.
State
Street. On either side of State Street from the 400 block to the 1200
block; or
B.
Milpas
Street. Either side of Milpas Street from the 00 block South to the
200 block North; or
C.
Cabrillo
Boulevard. Cabrillo Boulevard between Castillo Street and Milpas Street.
(Ord. 5499, 2009; Ord. 5689, 2015)
Any person who engages in abusive panhandling as defined herein shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed $1,000.00 or be imprisoned for a period not to exceed six months, or both. Other violations of this chapter shall be prosecuted in accordance with the requirements of Section 1.28.010.
(Ord. 5499, 2009)
