HOUSTON -- Panhandling at ATMs would be prohibited under a so-called civility ordinance headed to the Houston City Council.
The city already has an ordinance banning aggressive panhandling. According to the Houston Chronicle, the latest proposal would create no-solicitation zones within eight feet of ATMs, parking meters, pay telephones, gas pumps and transit facilities -- places people are likely to be handling money.
The proposal also includes a ban on rummaging through or removing material from garbage bags and containers, and would bar people from sitting or sleeping on downtown sidewalks from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The council's Committee on Regulatory Affairs voted to send the proposal to the full council without a recommendation. When Mayor Lee Brown will put the measure on the council agenda is unknown. He has said that he supports the proposal as a tool for police.
The measure is likely to face some tinkering before a final vote, with some council members supporting the panhandling restrictions but opposing the other prohibitions.
"The testimony we got from the public was that each one of these areas that we're adding are areas where the public feels there should be no panhandling," Councilman Rob Todd told the Chronicle. "I don't think there are a lot of people who would try to argue that you should be allowed to panhandle around an ATM machine. That's just common sense."
He added that, if passed, the new ordinance could help with enforcement of the existing panhandling rules by allowing police officers to act as complaining witnesses, rather than having to rely on members of the public to complain.
Critics of the proposal say that regulations already on the books address some of the behaviors targeted in the measure, including loitering and harassment.
