Panhandling in Santa Barbara will now be a misdemeanor, following a new ordinance passed by the City Council.
The Council voted 6-1 in favor of the ordinance on Tuesday, which will restrict active panhandling and make aggressive panhandling a misdemeanor.
The ordinance though, won’t be put into effect until a new program begins that allows the public to give homeless money through donation boxes, according to an Associate Press report.
The restrictions to “active panhandling” include not being able to approach people for money who are at a bus stop or in a vehicle on a public street.
The fine is $1,000 or imprisonment for up to six months for abusive panhandlers.
Not sure how the city plans to collect that $1,000 from a panhandler, or how they expect them to come up with that cash – other than more aggressive panhandling.
- Top Gavin Newsom hair Tweets of the day … “Gavin Newsom has 80’s presidential hair” and “Gavin Newsom warned about wearing too much hair gel around open flame.”
- Overzealous traffic cops? Businesses in the South Bay Area’s Menlo Park are complaining that tough parking violations and increased fines are driving customers away in the downtown area.
Chris Schiebold of the Schiebold Consulting Group on Oak Grove Avenue, wrote an e-mail to the City Council suggesting that the city must be trying to make up for it’s dire fiscal situation by making extra money on parking tickets.
However, City Manager Glen Rojas said the increases in fines were part of the fallout when San Mateo County began charging higher city fees, according to the Daily News.
It brings up an interesting point. If local governments begin to press for dimes in certain areas, what will the effects be on the local economy?
- A friend of PublicCEO.com, Jack Simpson, provided an interesting City Manager “A” List in his latest City Manager Newsletter.
Comments on the blog? Ideas? E-mail James Spencer at jspencer@publicceo.com