ATLANTA — The city of Atlanta has approved a new ordinance aimed at cracking down on panhandlers.
Under the new, more stringent rules, panhandlers must stop once they are told no by the person they are soliciting for money. Repeat offenders could face community service or jail time.
“Visitors and residents must feel safe in our city at all times,” Mayor Kasim Reed said in a news release last week announcing his support for a revised ordinance. “Regulating panhandling in an enforceable manner is vital where we have an active, thriving tourism and convention industry. But simply adding punitive provisions to an unworkable law does not accomplish that goal.”
The new ordinance would ban panhandlers from soliciting money within 15 feet of ATMs. The new regulation does not outline any tourist area, according to the city.
