Posted on 02/15/2023 7:08:21 AM PST by V_TWIN
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville City Council approved a bill that they said will help make roadways safer and what some believe will crackdown on panhandling.
The ordinance passed 16-3 and makes it illegal for someone to stand in the median of a roadway for an extended period of time and to physically interact with any car on the roadway that isn’t illegally parked. This doesn’t just cover the median either. It is now illegal to solicit from the sidewalk or any place near the road.
(Excerpt) Read more at actionnewsjax.com ...
Wow. What a concept.
May it spread far and wide.
It’s a great start for Duval, but now all the panhandlers will move to Blanding Blvd in Clay county.... Pfft!
Should also make it illegal for drivers to feed the animals.
Ping
Good! Jax was really suffering from having these people all over the place.
It’s just a start though. Now let’s get them to stop living in public parks and ruining all the downtown.
I never saw panhandlers in the past where I now live but now they are everywhere!
Yesterday I had to go to the store in the rain and they were nowhere to be seen. Then the sun came out and I saw several with their fold up chairs and cardboard signs heading to their “spots” to beg.
I can’t even remember the last time I’ve ever carried cash on me, and I am sure I am not alone, so that has to impact panhandlers.
I’ve seen a family with a ‘Stranded Please Help’ sign on a corner for years. They are foreigners that live in taxpayer subsidized apartments near their corner. They drive a new SUV which they park in a store parking lot. I despise the grifters.
Just talking about that with someone, if I have a $20 in my wallet that's alot. The only time I go to the atm is on my way to something that only takes cash.
We’ve got a lot of panhandling gypsies around Jax now. Most local people here are not familiar with gypsy scams and stupidly give them money. I’ve called the sheriff a couple times when I see them begging with young kids in terrible heat or cold. Hopefully this new law will move them along. Probably just to Clay and St. Johns, though.
I used to make the roughly 40 mile, 50 minute (on a good day) drive from Orange Park to Mayport each day and then the same distance back again.
Half my commute time was spent driving 4 miles on Blanding until I reached the 295 beltway.
Panhandling is constitutionally protected free speech as declared by the Supreme Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015).
Panhandling is constitutionally protected free speech as declared by the Supreme Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015).
Loitering for hours on end in the median of busy roads, often with young children dangerously in tow, is not.
It is aggravating to sit at a red light and when the light turns green have the idiot in front of you call over the panhandler to contribute to their addiction and then you miss the light. My car horn is not loud enough!
I think the SCOTUS ruled about this back in 1985 and the 1st Amendment is still there, for now. This is a jobs program for underemployed lawyers.
3 verbal warnings and then a $100 fine.
First you have to keep track of who they are and how many infractions they have......that’s gonna require proof of identification......how many DON’T have that?
“regulating activities in the median in public right-of-way in our intersections where it’s dangerous.”
“It’s not about standing on the corner and using your First Amendment [right] …. You can still do that. None of that is being affected. This is keeping transactions from driver and person on the street from doing a money transaction,”
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