The Spokane City Council voted 6-1 last night to outlaw aggressive panhandling, but they did scale back the original proposal to only make it effective in the downtown area and at freeway in order to keep a couple non-profit fundraisers legal.
Council members said that panhandlers who go into the street to collect cash pose a public safety hazard. A lot of people pointed out that there are no statistics showing many panhandlers have been hurt stepping into the street, but I can say that I have seen drivers get distracted trying to read panhandler’s signs and almost rear end the car in front of them.