Street-side panhandling in Gainesville has dropped off significantly since it was banned by the Gainesville City Commission in July, according to the Gainesville Police Department.
Lt. Keith Kameg, GPD spokesman, said only three people have been arrested for violating the ban and fewer panhandlers are walking in the middle of Gainesville's streets.
Yet panhandlers have not disappeared from the city.
Dale Fuller, 29, said he makes between $40 and $50 a day holding signs on the side of the road.
He held a sign at the intersection of Interstate 75 and Archer Road Thursday, which read: "Homeless and broke, anything helps!" Fuller said the threat of jail doesn't keep him from standing on the side of the highway's off-ramp.
"As long as I'm not standing in front of the car, there's nothing wrong with it," he said. "Should it be against the law for a man to hand me money out of the kindness of his heart? No."
Commissioner Ed Braddy, who voted for the ban, said he believes it has been effective in reducing the number of panhandlers, who, he added, are not necessarily the same as homeless people.
"Many panhandlers panhandle because they have a substance-abuse problem," he said. "Why would I want to enable someone who is destroying themselves?"
Commissioner Scherwin Henry, who also voted for the ban, said the purpose of the ordinance was to protect both the panhandlers, who were walking out in the middle of the street, and also Gainesville residents, who felt they were being intimidated.
"Individuals can approach individuals, they just can't do it in the street," Henry said.
Both commissioners said that they encourage people to give to the needy through local non-profit organizations.
Arupa Freeman, coordinator of the Home Van, which drives supplies to the homeless community twice a week, said that while she is in favor of banning aggressive panhandling, the ordinance passed by the city went too far.
"You can't have all your needs met through agencies," she said. "It's fine if you have money to share with people who don't have money."
Freeman said her organization, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, has seen many more homeless people since the ordinance was passed.
"We just see that the panhandling ordinance has made their extremely hard lives even tougher," she said.
