ORLANDO, Fla. – Panhandlers in Orlando could soon legally ask you for money anywhere, if the City of Orlando votes on changing it's current panhandling laws proposed by Mayor Buddy Dyer.
As it stands now, a law in 2010 created 27 blue spray-painted boxes around downtown, designated places for panhandlers to legally ask for money.
However, the City says "Due to U.S. Supreme Court decisions, panhandling ordinances throughout the U.S. have come under additional scrutiny and have made it difficult for the City to enforce its current ordinances."
Here are some examples of case law cases on this: Courts strike down panhandling bans based on Supreme Court's sign decision I Tampa panhandling ban in downtown and Ybor City ruled unconstitutional.
So Mayor Dyer, planning ahead wants to go with the best practice and change the ordinance to make sure it is upheld in court if ever challenged.
The ordinance reads, "Proposed Ordinance 2017-42 would repeal the City's panhandling and downtown core district solicitation ordinances respectively, while revisions to Chapter 51 ensure that the City's ordinance is constitutional while still protecting our citizens and visitors from the unwanted aggressive solicitation."
So that means those 27 blue boxes have got to go.
We found Gary Lohman panhandling inside of one Thursday afternoon.
Lohman has been homeless for four months and thinks changing the current ordinance a good idea, considering he was arrested and in jail for five days for asking for food outside of the blue box.
"I can probably get out of here but I can't do it legally. If I ask I go to jail," he said. "I think they need to get rid of them, I'm not going to bother you or harass you on the street."
But Brian Barnette works downtown and he's concerned about panhandling getting too aggressive with the proposed changes.
"It's a handful, it's rather inconvenient, it stops me from getting to where I need to go and it's not pleasant," he said.
But though the city plans to repeal the old law, they are replacing it with stricter revisions when it comes to the aggressive solicitation. If passed, it will be illegal for those panhandlers to approach people at ATMs, restaurants, waiting in lines at events and concerts and yes, in the middle of the road.
That fact alone is why Shelley Lauten with the Central Florida Homeless Coalition loves the idea, saying these changes will crack down on aggressive solicitation while not criminalizing the homeless.
"This new ordinance again will help us differentiate what people who are homeless need and what people who are aggressively panhandling or soliciting money are looking to do and we have to separate those two issues out," Lauten said.
The Orlando City Commission will have the first reading of this ordinance on Monday, the second reading on July 24. If voted yes, it will immediately go into law.