City officials passed an ordinance to completely ban panhandling from the downtown area at the City Council meeting Tuesday evening. 

The ordinance, targeted specifically at State Street, banned panhandling within 25 feet of ATMs, sidewalk caf?s, intersections, alcohol establishments and the downtown business district. 

Last week, the city announced a proposal to place discontinued parking meters on State Street to serve as donation receptacles in the absence of panhandlers. 

Assistant City Attorney Marci Paulsen said the city has looked at where the panhandling occurred and wanted to tailor the ordinance to the most restrictive needs.

“The courts held that panhandling is a First Amendment right, but several courts said you can’t ban it everywhere; you have to look at what narrowly meets the governmental needs,” Paulsen said.

Paulsen said panhandling is defined as asking for an immediate request from another person and does not include those that hold signs or put out items such as a guitar case.

Madison police neighborhood officer Jeff Pharo said the issue of panhandling is not always an issue of homelessness. He said about 18 active panhandlers use the 500 block of State Street daily.

According to Pharo, since January 2001, those 18 people have had 608 contacts with police. He added 12 of them are felons, five are sex offenders, nine have weapons histories, two are on parole supervision and four are currently wanted by police.

Pharo said one panhandler is in charge of all the other panhandlers and dictates who is allowed to occupy the street on scheduled blocks of time. He added the lead panhandler will batter anyone that goes against his wishes, that he also deals drugs at the location and has been incarcerated 19 times.

Ald. Brian Solomon, District 10, said he is not convinced the ordinance will help with the aggression of the panhandlers. He said the ordinance does not address alcoholism or crack addictions, adding not all homeless people use panhandling money for drugs and alcohol.

Steven Schooler, executive director for Porchlight, a homeless shelter in Madison, said the panhandlers are “sophisticated businesspersons.” He said State Street is a very easy area for panhandlers to get money because there are many students who are very willing to donate to the panhandlers.

He added this easy access to panhandling enables chronic substance abusers to continue using, and the ordinance could make a difference to some individuals.

Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said he is not concerned about the panhandlers in Madison that have been there for years but instead worries the new ones coming into the city will not follow the rules and cause trouble downtown.

“We are essentially at a tipping point for the issue of panhandling, and this expresses a clear measure of what acceptable behaviors will be downtown,” Resnick said.

Several local State Street business owners said the panhandlers on State Street have discouraged people from shopping in the area and many have to clean up vomit, urine and feces in their doorways before they open their store in the morning. They said the panhandlers are smart and know how to hide misconduct from police.

Mayor Paul Soglin said just because someone is homeless does not mean they are panhandling, and, inversely, just because they are panhandling does not mean they are homeless. He said it is long overdue the city bans panhandling because it can be dangerous and is a waste of police and fire department resources.

“If they are cut off from the financial resources, they need to continue with behavior that is self-indulgent, they are going to give up,” Soglin said. “If they don’t give up, we will pursue them elsewhere. We have available to them counseling, services in terms of housing and therapy, but we’re not going to allow the alcoholism to continue.”