Dear Salt Lake City Residents,
Aggressive panhandling and commercial solicitations are becoming more common in our City, especially in the Downtown and Sugarhouse areas. In response to concerns and comments from a number of businesses, tourism associations, individuals, and homeless providers, Salt Lake City is exploring additional methods for regulating commercial solicitations in public areas.
To be clear, the City is not interested in the outright prohibition of panhandling, commercial solicitations, or the free expression rights of individuals. Rather, we are working to address a specific type of behavior that makes people feel unsafe or threatened, prevents free access and movement of individuals, and discourages individuals from coming to Salt Lake City.
We are releasing a draft ordinance for public comment. The draft is intended to be a starting place for healthy dialogue and input. The draft is expected to change and evolve in response to feedback we receive over the next several weeks. We welcome and appreciate your comments.
Please submit your comments to mayor@slcgov.com by Friday, September 18, 2009.
Sincerely,
Ralph Becker
Salt Lake City Mayor
Click here to read the proposed ordinance.