Judge permanently blocks Daytona's anti-panhandling ordinance calling it unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Daytona Beach's panhandling ordinance violates the First Amendment, permanently blocked the city from enforcing it, and set a trail for damages on Sept. 16.

U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger ruled that the ordinance criminalizes requests for donations under certain circumstances and in certain public spaces, noting that "the Defendant is liable to Plaintiffs for money damages for its past enforcement of the ordinance."

The lawsuit was filed in 2022 by the firm Southern Legal Counsel, along with pro bono attorneys Sabarish Neelakanta and Holland & Knight’s Jenifer Norwalk and Chazz Freeman. While the ordinance was ruled unconstitutional, it was also effective due to its extensive restrictions on where people can beg for money.

The ordinance prohibits panhandlers from begging in certain areas of the city including along streets, sidewalks, medians, and roadways as well as within 20 feet of bus or trolley stops. It also bans people from panhandling in, city parking facilities and restrooms, ATMs, and the entrances or exits of commercially zoned property, and within 100 feet of schools and daycares.

A press release sent out by the lawyers for Southern Legal Counsel stated the lawsuit follows cases brought against other Florida municipalities where "laws criminalizing requests for charity" have consequently been struck down, enjoined from enforcement, or repealed.

Such cities include Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Fort Myers, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, and Miami.

“In an effort to sidestep the First Amendment, Daytona Beach created an offensive legislative record that perpetuated harmful narratives about unhoused community members. Fortunately, its expensive and misguided efforts to unconstitutionally criminalize those in need who simply ask for help have failed,” said lead attorney Chelsea Dunn, director of SLC’s Decriminalizing Poverty Project.

“If cities would put as many resources into supportive services as they do into passing and enforcing unconstitutional ordinances, then we might actually make progress as a society,” she said.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, and seeks damages on behalf of plaintiffs Dennis Scott, Chad Driggers, Douglas Willis and George Rowland, who were either threatened with arrest or arrested multiple times for violating the Daytona Beach ordinance.

The city of Daytona Beach was not immediately available for comment, but supporters of the ordinance have pointed out that prior to its passage in 2019, major intersections throughout the city had panhandlers on every corner begging for money almost every day.

The solicitors would often walk into traffic while cars were stopped for red lights, sometimes walking up to a driver's window to plead for cash. Beach Street and the Boardwalk were also panhandling hotspots for years.