Memphis Turns Up Heat on Its Downtown Panhandlers

Every day when Don Hungerford opens his store in downtown Memphis, panhandlers demand money from him. Sometimes, they beg in front of his clothing shop on South Main Street.

“There is not a day that goes by that I am not approached,” Hungerford said. “I just keep walking and don’t look at them.”

Unlike Hungerford, the city of Memphis has decided to stop looking the other way and to crack down on panhandlers. The City Council recently passed an ordinance--believed to be the first of its kind in the nation--requiring all panhandlers to get a free, city-issued permit. Now, begging in Memphis without the proper paperwork can get a person arrested.

“Memphis used to be a place where this thing didn’t happen. (Washington) D.C. had a problem. Philadelphia had a problem. But not Memphis,” said Melanie Winton, staff administrator for the City Council. “It was getting to be a problem, not so much begging, but people who were harassing other people.”

Under the law, panhandlers must get a permit to beg in public places, such as the library and the airport. Begging is banned on buses and at trolley stops, as is panhandling after sunset or before sunrise. Violators can be charged with a misdemeanor offense and fined $50.

The ordinance was drafted in response to complaints by a neighborhood organization concerned about beggars harassing people in downtown Memphis, which, like many urban cores, is undergoing a revitalization effort after years of decline.

The measure, which the council will re-evaluate after nine months, is one of the most restrictive in use as cities around the country search for ways to curb panhandlers whose tactics are becoming more aggressive and even threatening.

“Panhandling is one element of a general decay and deterioration of life in cities,” said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. “We see the decay of public order as the root cause of crime.”

The foundation, a public interest group formed to protect the rights of crime victims, has published a pamphlet on regulating panhandling that some city officials, including those in Memphis, have used in drafting their ordinances. The laws target behavior and do not push for banning the practice altogether, in part to avoid legal challenges by groups who argue that panhandling is protected by the First Amendment.

Panhandlers in Memphis also can be charged if they use profane or abusive language, work in groups of two or more or intimidate pedestrians.

Last October, San Diego passed an “aggressive solicitation” law similar to what other cities have on their books or are trying to get. The rule prohibits individuals from “coercing, threatening, hounding, harassing or intimidating another person for the purpose of soliciting money or goods.”

In Anaheim, panhandlers are barred from using physical threats, blocking a person’s path, interfering with traffic or continuing to pester someone who has said no. A companion measure also prohibits beggars from washing car windshields without permission, soliciting people entering or leaving a car and standing on a curb or in the street to beg from passing vehicles.

Some other cities that have tackled the issue include Baltimore, San Francisco and New York.

In Memphis, only a few people have shown up to get permits, police said.

Darryl Johnson, who begs in Court Square Park, does not think the permits will do any good. Johnson said he has been unemployed for the last two months and resorts to begging to provide for his wife and three children. He had heard about the permit but does not think he will get one.

“In order to get a permit, most people think there is some sort of catch. They (the panhandlers) would rather go to jail,” said Johnson, adding that he will soon begin working in a bubble gum factory. “I have no other choice. I have to feed my family.”