Soliciting in the streets raises public concerns

Friday, October 24, 2003

For the past several days, folks have been seen soliciting donations, literally in the middle of the street-- often at Ash and Austin streets, a very busy intersection that's the site of frequent traffic accidents, even without the added distraction of pedestrians asking for money. Area residents have been complaining about people standing at stop lights seeking donations, sometimes walking right into the path of oncoming traffic. Concerned citizens have commented they worry that someone soliciting for a charity in this manner might get hurt and have expressed concern about being able to verify who the money's going to and how it's being spent. City manager Craig Hubler said the public has expressed similar concerns to a variety of city officials, but for now the city has no ordinances regulating such activity. Safety of both drivers and those soliciting money is an obvious concern, but another reason the city is looking at tightening up requirements for those soliciting on city streets is accountability. "We don't know where this money is going, whether it is a legitimate charity or just going in someone's pocket. The citizens have a right to know that before they give," said Hubler. "We are looking at the situation to see what might be done. However, we don't want to do anything that could seem to be construed as being religious persecution," said Hubler. One recent group of people soliciting donations in the city tell passers-by they are collecting for the Church of David, which does not appear to be a local organization. Hubler said another consideration is the fact that a city group also uses the same procedure to raise money. "We don't have any requirement for permits for this activity and since the firefighters raise funds this way we have to be careful how we proceed. We can't give one group preference and treat others differently," Huber said. Nevada isn't the only city to have people soliciting at stoplights and other high traffic areas. Carthage and Clinton both have reported similar operations to the one that local residents have complained about; however there's no real evidence that the people soliciting funds in each of these cities are connected in any way. Carthage City Clerk Lynn Campbell said that two men were soliciting cars at stop lights in Carthage recently as well. "We had two men soliciting for a non-profit group in Oklahoma." Campbell said that Carthage also has no ordinance regulating such activity, so there's no way to stop the soliciting unless there's a safety issue. "We don't have an ordinance against soliciting at lights -- as a matter of fact our firefighters do that -- but we do have one against obstructing traffic. We don't want anyone getting hurt." In Clinton, Police Chief Robert Hyder said that groups wishing to solicit funds must request permission from that city's Public Safety Committee before starting. "The groups have to make a request of the committee which reviews it before passing it on to the council. If it's approved, anyone doing the soliciting has to take a class on the proper procedure before starting. The group has to post signs on both sides of the location the group is working to let the public know what organization is collecting the money." Hyder said he knows of a group that seems to be making its way around southwest Missouri. "We had a group from Oklahoma that wanted to solicit but when they found out the requirements they didn't stay," he noted.

To Read More
Subscribe Sign In
Continue reading with a subscription
Subscription options