On Tuesday, November 13th, City Council passed a Downtown No-Solicitation ordinance 8-1 on First Reading. Councilman Val Snider cast the lone dissenting vote. The ordinance will ban solicitation in a narrow section of Downtown bordered by: Boulder on the north, Nevada on the east, Cucharras on the south, and Cascade on the west.
Mayor Steve Bach was in attendance and spoke in support of the measure. “The genesis of this is from the downtown community, the merchants and the business people as well as citizens who have, in my 17 months here, continued to ask me to do something about this problem. The downtown retailers and restaurants are suffering due to the continuing aggressive panhandling, and they’re very worried that they’re going to lose this holiday shopping and dining season if we don’t take action.”
Second Reading and final approval of the ordinance will likely take place at the November 27th Formal City Council Meeting and enforcement could begin in early December.

