Asheville City Council, in the August 26 formal meeting, approved amending the City Ordinance which addresses panhandling and solicitation in high traffic zones by increasing the size of one such zone in the central business district, and adding additional high traffic zones on and around Haywood Road and Patton Avenue.
High traffic zones are defined as areas within the City of Asheville that experience a large amount of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. That designation previously applied only to portions of downtown and Biltmore Village.
Balancing Public Safety and Acts of giving
The City of Asheville and City Council continually strive to maintain a balance between public safety, individuals’ first amendment rights and facilitating community members’ and visitors’ desire to give.
In the past 12 months, over 430 calls for service have been reported in the expansion areas, including panhandling, suspicious persons, and trespassing.
The data-driven decision to expand defined high traffic zones continues to strike a balance: maintaining a safe public environment, for our community including our most vulnerable members, while recognizing and respecting a culture of giving.
Guidelines for giving
Though the designation of high traffic zone now applies to additional areas, an individual’s right to solicit or panhandle on public property remains protected, though regulated.
- In general, panhandling and solicitation are allowed on sidewalks.
- Verbal solicitation and panhandling is prohibited anywhere within the high traffic zones.
- Panhandling and solicitation are prohibited on a median, in the street and/or on a roadside shoulder.
However it is prohibited to carry out solicitation or panhandling activities under the following circumstances:
- By forcing yourself on another or accosting them
- Within 20 feet of a financial institution or ATM
- Within an outdoor dining area, or to solicit from anyone seated or working in the outdoor dining area
- Within 8 feet of a transit stop or bus station, or on a public bus
- Soliciting someone who is standing in line to enter a business
- By touching someone without their consent
- By blocking someone’s path, or blocking the entrance or exit to a business or vehicle
- By using obscene or threatening language
- By using a threatening gesture or action
- After dark
- While under the influence of alcohol or drugs
Sec. 11-5. Public solicitation and begging regulated.
Sec. 11-14. Solicitation from streets and median strips.
It is important to note that the Asheville Police Department can only issue a citation to appear in court for violation of either ordinance. The court will make the determination if a fine should be imposed, or if a deferred prosecution is the better course of action for resolution.
This ordinance will return to city council for a second vote at the September 9th meeting, as a recent state law requires any ordinance with a criminal penalty to pass 2 votes before beig enacted.