City council discusses pan handling, loitering and vagrancy in the area

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Monday morning, Wilmington City Council met to discuss vagrancy in the city.

City Attorney John Joye addressed complaints like aggressive panhandling, loitering on medians and sidewalks, and gaining property by defrauding the public.

The city plans to clean up it’s code by next year, removing language that can’t be enforced and replacing certain laws.

According to Joye, a new ordinance could keep people from standing on narrow medians and cover other similar public safety issues. You cannot, however, disallow panhandling all together.

“When local government goes to put in a safety regulation, they need to have evidence. If you’re burdening speech, you need to come with some evidence. You need to be able to show why what you chose to do makes sense,” said Joye.

Joye went on to say the council could commission safety studies as evidence for the 2023 code cleanup. To write any ordinance that could burden speech, they would need to prove there is no better alternative.