In Effort to Curb Panhandling, Dallas Could Make it Illegal to Simply Stand on Medians

The city is working on an ordinance that would make it a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 to stand on medians that are 6 feet wide or narrower. It’s primarily being billed as a public safety measure to protect people from getting hit by cars, and you better believe that applies to panhandlers.

Over the years, Dallas has tried to put a stop to people asking others for money. For example, former mayor and onetime Dallas Observer columnist Laura Miller got City Council at the time to pass an ordinance that made it illegal to “ask, beg, solicit, or plead [for] contributions, alms, charity, or gifts of items of value for oneself or another person.”

The 2003 ordinance has seen some changes since then. In recent years, however, it’s largely gone unenforced because of potential legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that asking for help, which includes asking for money, is First Amendment protected speech. Dallas acknowledged this during a City Council meeting early last year, during which officials were discussing other potential ways to crack down on panhandling.

Officials said at the time that while First Amendment protections made it difficult to prohibit panhandling, they could use existing ordinances and create new ones to do just that. Maybe panhandlers can’t be fined for asking for money, but they can be fined for activities such as littering, impeding traffic, urinating and defecating in public, or, if it’s made illegal, standing on a median.

When the no-standing-on-medians ordinance was brought up during an April meeting of the City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, some questioned its exact purpose. While it’s being billed as a pedestrian safety measure, City Council member Cara Mendelsohn said it’s also been discussed as a tool to connect panhandlers to city services they may need. However, the ordinance itself doesn’t say anything specific about panhandling. It’s very broad, actually, applying to anyone who dares stand on a median. 

What about school fundraisers where students may be soliciting donations for their next field trip? Or “fill the boot” drives by police officers and firefighters? Not even those panhandlers would be allowed on the medians, depending on who you ask. That’s kind of the key. Applied to everyone across the board, ordinances like this are supposed to be more constitutionally sound. But will it be applied to everyone?

When council members asked about these kinds of fundraisers that may involve people standing on medians, a city attorney said anyone wanting to do anything on the medians would need permission from the city. It’s unclear at this point whether exceptions would be made for people who get permission from the city, aside from maintenance workers or landscapers actively working on a street.

If you asked Mendelsohn, though, she’d say there shouldn’t be any exceptions. Aside from city staff using them to do necessary work or people using them to cross the street, Mendelsohn said people shouldn’t be allowed on the medians. That includes the fill-the-boot firefighters.

“Many firefighters have told me they have had close calls,” Mendelsohn told the Observer by text. “I don’t think anyone should be in medians. … Having people unnecessarily in the median doesn’t align with our Vision Zero commitment.”

Vision Zero is Dallas’ goal of reaching zero traffic fatalities and a 50% reduction in severe injuries by 2030. The city adopted the plan in June this year.

There are some anecdotal reports about cars driving up onto medians or people getting hit by cars while they were standing on them. It’s not a huge stretch to say standing on a median may not be the safest thing, especially if there’s heavy, fast-moving traffic. Jesuorobo Enobakhare Jr., chair of the Community Police Oversight Board, said he gets the public safety concerns. Still, he said the way we address it shouldn’t be to criminalize poverty.

“I understand the public safety issues of panhandling and the risk to the panhandler of being hit by a driver. In saying that I stand firmly in my belief that we should not criminalize poverty,” Enobakhare said. “Instead we should be putting our efforts and resources towards eradicating the need for panhandling.”

But, despite the proposed fines in the ordinance and what may happen to people if they don’t (because they can’t) pay them, Mendelsohn said none of this is meant to be punitive.

“I’m 100% opposed to criminalizing poverty AND panhandling,” Mendelsohn said. “These two ideas can stand together.”

The latest move on this ordinance should come by the end of the month, with City Council voting to allow Dallas City Marshal Officers to enforce it alongside the Dallas Police Department.