Ban panhandling in Durham?

According to the headline article today in the Metro section of the Herald-Sun, Commissioner Lewis Cheek, and possibly Durham Businesses Against Crime, want a ban on panhandling in road right-of-ways.   There might be safety issues, and I don't like being panhandled when I walk in urban areas (but that is much more of a problem on Chapel Hill's Franklin Street than in Durham, in my experience), but I can see some problems if panhandling is banned, especially in the City.   I think it is logical to sell newspapers on sidewalks in a city, and how would a ban affect the right to protest and do politics, such as the Saturday noon peace vigil at Brightleaf Square?   There could be some selling going on there, and a protest involves more people standing on the edge of the street than a newspaper vendor.  There are few outdoor public spaces for politics, since shopping centers try to ban people (though I think the Supreme Court just ruled that malls, such as Southpoint, cannot bar non-disruptive political speech) and town centers are not the heart of most communities now.   A ban would also seem to ban summer lemonade stands, even on roads with little traffic.  Seemingly homeless panhandlers might need that money, and Commissioner Cheek apparently recognize that poverty cannot be eliminated by making its manifestations illegal.  

 

Tomorrow at 8pm Cheek will address an open DBAC meeting on this issue, in Northgate Mall's Conference Room, on the lower level of the Mall, by Ruby Tuesday.   A ban will be discussed at the next City-County joint meeting January 8^th at 9pm in the County government building at 200 East Main St.