Council supports proposed state ban on panhandling

Bill affects solicitors, nonprofit organizations

The legislation would prohibit a person from standing on any road in the state and soliciting money or donations from someone in their vehicle.

‘‘This has been a concern of ours for several years, so the city has been working with our delegates and senators to get some legislation,” Greenbelt Mayor Judith Davis said. ‘‘The only city group that I saw being affected by this legislation is our volunteer fire department, and that did concern me.”

Another reason Davis voted for the legislation was to improve the safety of children who might be helping to solicit donations.

‘‘Young people can be abducted, especially with no adult supervision, cursed at or something even worse can happen,” Davis said. ‘‘It’s just not safe in so many ways.”

Davis said she has seen some solicitors who seemed suspicious because they provided little information about their organizations.

‘‘For some of the church groups that would be on the streets, I would ask them what church are they affiliated with, and they would reply, ‘Oh we’re just a missionary group,’ Davis said. ‘‘For some people, they’re just playing on the sympathy of others. You’d see adults with their children’s noses running in the parking lot of the Giant asking people for money.”

For organizations that rely on soliciting money for fundraising, the legislation would not cause major complications.

Brian Rudy, Greenbelt volunteer fire chief, said the department has held a boot drive on the street for the past 10 years.

‘‘The loss of the boot drive would have a minimum impact on the department because we do it once a year near the holiday season,” Rudy said. ‘‘We’ll just have to find another way to raise money.”

Along with the boot drive, the volunteer fire department has a general fund drive, a request for donations delivered in the mail to area residents.

‘‘The only two ways we solicit money is through the boot drive and the general fund drive. We don’t call people’s homes or do door to door donations,” Rudy said. ‘‘The money raised from the donations goes towards fire equipment and operations purposes for the fire department.”

Rudy said he understands why the City Council voted to support the legislation, because there is a safety issue when people are walking in the street.

‘‘Knock on wood, luckily nobody has been hit by a car during the boot drive because [drivers] really aren’t paying attention to you,” Rudy said.

E-mail Marcus Ngbea at mngbea@gazette.net.