On February 14, 2019, The Town Council for The Town of Palm Beach, passed and adopted an emergency ordinance that makes it unlawful to solicit on the streets, sidewalks, and public areas of the Town.
Soliciting in the public roadway is unsafe and subjects solicitors, pedestrians and vehicles to an unacceptable level of danger. Drivers become distracted from their primary duty to watch traffic, which results in the delay and obstruction of the public’s free flow of travel. These activities further result in the congestion and the blockage of streets when such persons approach vehicles in the public right-of-way to solicit or negotiate with the occupants. The most severe impacts are experienced during hand-to-hand transactions when money or other items of value are directly and immediately exchanged. Distracted drivers are more prone to be involved in automobile accidents and accidents on the public streets constitute a substantial traffic safety problem.
The restrictions of the ordinance are intended to protect citizens from traffic safety problems, along with intrusive conduct and personal intimidation that accompany certain kinds of solicitation that have become an unwelcome and oppressive presence in the Town.