Council Sends Panhandling Proposal Back To Committee

The Indianapolis City County Council is going to take some more time reviewing an ordinance that would ban panhandling.

Concerns were raised by a group of musicians including Bruce Lampe who says the proposal infringes on his First Amendment rights to perform on city streets.

"You have to have the freedom to make those kinds of expressive comments or those kinds of expressive actions," he said.  "If they don't allow that to happen out on the city streets, in the middle of public streets, public ways, then you are losing out on possible new ways of thinking, new ways of looking at things, new ways of relating to other people."

As it's written now, the proposal calls for restricting passive solicitation anywhere within 50 feet of a financial transaction, including ATMs and parking pay boxes."

Councilor Jeff Miller co-authored the measure and says the intention wasn’t to step on any toes, but to make the city safer.

"We have to operate in the fact that if we look to protect the safety of residents in vulnerable situations from one form of solicitation, we have to do it for all," said Miller.

Musician Rod Prather is in favor of cracking down on panhandling, but he thinks the proposed ban does not target the core of the problem.

"I agree with the idea that we need to get rid of aggressive panhandling, but at the same time, the state has laws against aggressive panhandling," he said.  "This law isn't about aggressive panhandling, this is about passive panhandling.  In the end, the only people who really get hurt by this law are the people who are actively raising funds for good causes."

The proposal heads back to committee and will be discussed again in January.

Visit Indy President Leonard Hoops says something needs to be done because he thinks panhandling is hurting business opportunities.

"It's not a nominal thing.   You are talking about a lot of hard working people out there who are at the wim of the decision maker who decides whether or not to bring a show to Indianapolis," said Hoops.  "Regardless of whether councilors think it's important, the reality is, we have lost 380,000 hours just in the last two years of convention business that otherwise would have come here."

Hoops doesn’t believe the proposal would impact street performers, but instead help the city’s national profile.

"I don't think a lot of the councilors are giving credence to the amount of lost work for people who are in their districts who need those jobs as much as any panhandler or solicitor needs their change," said Hoops.  "Unfortunately we are pushing 400,000 hours worth of lost work just based on what the value of those conventions were that we have lost in the past two years."