Column: Citizens, not just customers

If some Iowa City business owners have their way, soon they'll be the only people allowed to ask for money downtown.

Members of the Downtown Association want Iowa City Councilors to beef up a two-year-old solicitation ordinance. Councilors plan to discuss the idea at a work session next week.

Business owners want councilors to ban panhandling on the city's Pedestrian Mall or within 25 feet of building entrances, playgrounds, cafes, mobile vendors and ATMs.

They also want the city to require panhandlers to stay 50 feet away from each other - basically, they want council to ban soliciting downtown.

Beggars scare away customers, they say. They want council to ban smoking on the Ped Mall from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m., too - to deter loiterers.

In case you haven't already gotten the idea, for panhandlers and loiterers, read: undesirables.

I'm all for supporting business, but downtown Iowa City is more than a lobby for stores. Business owners should remember we're talking about a public space, not their own private property.

The Ped Mall is designed for loitering. If some of those people who take the time to enjoy its lovely tree-shaded benches are a little scruffy - well, that's life in the big city.

There's also the little matter of constitutionality, as City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes keeps pointing out. Other towns that have banned panhandling have faced court challenges for violating people's right to free speech - yes, even the rough-edged guy with the hand-lettered sign has one.

If he wants to ask for your spare change, it's his right, just as it's your right to say no.

And anyway, a tougher ordinance wouldn't change the fact that police don't have enough time or motivation to make enforcement of these existing ordinances their top priority. Police haven't charged a living soul for violating the Aggressive Solicitation Ordinance since it was passed in 2008, although they've investigated 31 complaints, according to Dilkes.

Police have rightly said that begging and butt patrol will stay low on their list unless Council explicitly tells them to step it up.

I think the majority of folks in Iowa City would agree a patrol officer's time is better spent doing - well, nearly anything other than chasing mall rats away from public spaces downtown. We're talking here about citizens, not just shoppers.

Harassment and other nuisances already are illegal. That's enough.

And if a business owner doesn't like it, there's always the shopping mall.

Jennifer Hemmingsen's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact the writer at (319) 339-3154 or jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com