Issaquah law to crack down on panhandling

Dan Swinscoe's patients joke about "going to Skid Row" when they come to see the Issaquah physical therapist.

The reason? They're often harassed by panhandlers who have asked for money and sometimes urinated outside his practice at the Meadows Shopping Center. Swinscoe even found one sleeping in his doorway, he said.

"It's embarrassing," he said. "I'm not paying Skid Row prices to rent here."

Starting Tuesday, a new city law will crack down on aggressive begging. The ordinance makes it a misdemeanor — punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000 or 90 days in jail — to panhandle at highway onramps and offramps and within 300 feet of 13 specific intersections, such as Highway 900 and Northwest Gilman Boulevard.

"That includes cheerleaders with signs saying 'Come to our carwash,' " said Mayor Ava Frisinger.

The ordinance was passed in response to an increasing number of complaints from residents and nearby business owners, Frisinger said.

For instance, walkers using the quarter-mile boardwalk along Highway 900 "often found themselves having to step over human waste," Frisinger said. "The expectation is that this law will address public-safety issues and public-health concerns."

Issaquah is among several cities attempting to deal with panhandling through legislation.

Federal Way is looking at toughening its anti-panhandling law to follow in the path of Tacoma, which passed an ordinance last year restricting hours and locations where people can beg. Panhandling at night, on sidewalks, at bus stops and near automatic-teller machines is illegal now.

Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan, the bill's sponsor, said it has "greatly reduced what was getting out of hand."

"These were places where people were being asked for money and absolutely felt threatened and intimidated," Lonergan said.

First, though, city attorneys researched the legality of what they were trying to do, he said.

"We had to be careful because there is a free-speech issue," Lonergan said.

During the 1990s, Seattle amended its "aggressive-begging" ordinance to define intimidation. The law, later challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, was upheld.

"People have a right to ask others for money, even if it makes someone else uncomfortable," Doug Honig, ACLU spokesman, said in an e-mail. "Under the Constitution, the right to free speech includes the right to say things that others do not care to hear."

Cities may restrict "aggressive panhandling," he said, if that means it interferes with someone's ability to proceed on a public sidewalk or threatens harm to another person.

Advocates for the homeless say that laws such as Issaquah's do nothing but push the problem elsewhere.

"It's not going to change the situation," said Bill Block, project director for the Committee to End Homelessness in King County. "Cities need to deal with the barriers that cause people to become homeless in the first place."

Panhandlers are not always homeless, and the population is "a very mixed bag," Block said. "If people are desperate, they're desperate. This will really just drive them out into neighboring cities."

Issaquah City Councilman John Rittenhouse — who voted in favor of the law at last week's City Council meeting — says there's a "distinct possibility" that the panhandlers might relocate. But for now, he said, "this is a good first step. It catches the main areas where activity has been most pronounced."

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com