TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Status of Follow-up Work on Panhandling Issues
DATE: June 9, 2003
On March 3, 2003, the Council enacted an ordinance that amended the existing ordinance regulating soliciting and panhandling. The new ordinance added regulations prohibiting solicitation along roadways and shoulders, and prohibiting direct solicitation at night.
Enforcement of the new ordinance was deferred until all police officers had received training in the ordinance. This interim period also gave Town staff time to meet with social service providers, civic organizations and other stakeholders to begin a comprehensive evaluation of community issues related to panhandling.
All police officers have completed the training and enforcement has begun. Violators are first issued a warning. If the act of solicitation is aggressive or if the violator fails to heed prior warnings, citations are issued.
On May 23, members of the Police Department staff, including Chief Jarvies and Crisis Counselors Jim Huegerich and Matt Sullivan, met with community representatives to begin an evaluation of social and economic issues that may be influencing the level and type of panhandling taking place in Town. Agencies represented at the meeting included the Inter-Faith Council, the Orange-Chatham District Courts, Orange-Person-Chatham Mental Health, the UNC Office of Student Affairs, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce. Representatives of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Realtors, the Downtown Commission, and the UNC student body were invited but were unable to attend the meeting.
The purpose of this inaugural meeting was to review some of the issues surrounding the recent public discourse about panhandling in Chapel Hill. Though no specific strategies or plans were developed as a result of this meeting, all participants agreed that a second meeting should be scheduled during the month of June to begin developing short and long-term strategies and objectives.
A report on the committee’s progress and the impact of the new solicitation ordinance will be presented to the Council in September.