Gainesville moving forward with panhandlers ordinance

During the Aug. 11, Gainesville City Council meeting, employee Jessi Price said that city attorney Jessica Blackburn is working to craft a panhandler ordinance which would prohibit individuals from holding up signs on the roadside or otherwise asking for money inside the city limits. The topic was brought up at the July city council meeting when councilwoman Lana Bushong said that she’s encountered multiple panhandlers, including a more recent interaction when a man was holding a sign asking for gas money near the square. After being asked to move, he relocated near the Lick Creek bridge, just east of the square. Bushong said she paid for him to fill his gas can, but she thinks an ordinance needs to be in place to allow law enforcement the authority to prohibit those kinds of actions in the city limit.