Councilors introduce ordinance seeking crackdown on panhandling
After months of anticipation, the Wheeling City Council has introduced a bill seeking to curb panhandling.
WHEELING – At their Oct. 15 meeting, city councilors heard the first reading of an ordinance seeking to prohibit the practice of panhandling. The legislation, entitled “Article 375 – Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety” could see adoption as soon as the next city council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
The document’s “Findings And Areas Of Public Safety Concerns” section, states that a “significant safety risk” exists for “both pedestrians and occupants of vehicles” when items are exchanged between the two in the right-of-way of a road.

The ordinance contains a list of roadway characteristics that would see prohibitions take effect, including intersections with a roadway hosting an average 4,000 cars per day, roadways with speed limits of at least 25 miles an hour, medians of roadways less than 10 feet wide, poorly lit roadways, or any roadway during inclement weather, among other criteria.
A clause at the conclusion of the document states that the council may publish a list of the “Areas of Concern under this ordinance,” but, as of its introduction, no such map exists. With broad restrictions on roadways with speed limits of 25 miles an hour, poorly lit roadways, or during inclement weather, it’s possible the ordinance could cover virtually every city road.
If adopted, the ordinance would prohibit a number of activities associated with panhandling, or the solicitation of money and other goods from motorists by pedestrians. The city already prohibits the act of “begging” for charity in roads, per Wheeling, W.Va., Codified Ordinances §509.07. As well, the city has adopted several ordinances prohibiting certain use of roadways by pedestrians further outlined in the proposed “Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety.”
The ordinance would prohibit the “physical interaction between a pedestrian and an occupant of a motor vehicle, including but not limited to the transfer of any product or material,” any person outside or inside of a motor vehicle from reaching out to interact with another, and occupying a roadway, median, “neutral ground,” shoulder, or any other part of the road.
On a first offense, a pedestrian or motorist found in violation of the ordinance would receive an oral warning and a copy of the “Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety” ordinance. On a second offense, a written warning would be tendered as well as a copy of the ordinance. On a third and subsequent offense, a citation will be issued and a fine of not more than $100 or community service imposed.
Councilors did not discuss the ordinance during its first reading.
Independent reporter and local property owner John Russell expressed his disapproval of the ordinance during the public comment period of the meeting. Russell said he rejected the idea that the ordinance was intended to improve public safety.
“Safety for whom is the question on my mind,” Russell said. “Who counts as the general public? Does that include people who are one paycheck away from living on the streets, as six in ten Americans are? Does it include our neighbors who are living on the street currently? Does it help to cut off these very limited streams of income that they need to survive?”

In August, City Councilor Ben Seidler stated during a Rules Committee meeting that panhandling on east Exit 2A of Interstate 70 had anecdotally caused issues, including near-collisions.
“What we’re trying to address here is a public safety issue,” Seidler said at the Aug. 20 meeting.
Local governments are empowered to legislate matters of public safety. Per W.Va. Code §8-12-5(22), municipalities have plenary, or absolute, power and authority “to provide for the elimination of hazards to public health and safety and to abate or cause to be abated anything which in the opinion of a majority of the governing body is a public nuisance.”
While some in the city have claimed panhandling is rampant, StreetMOMs, a local service nonprofit organization, estimates that just one dozen people participate in the activity.
The City of Wheeling says it collaborated with the cities of Beckley, Charleston, Huntington, and Morgantown, as well as Monongalia County, to draft their anti-panhandling ordinance, possibly signaling a broader push across the Mountain State to impose similar measures.
On May 21 of this year, the Morgantown City Council repealed their 2005 anti-panhandling ordinance after Mountain State Justice, a nonprofit legal organization, filed suit. On Oct. 25, 2023, Monongalia County unanimously approved a similar “Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety Ordinance.” Shortly after, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia and Mountain State Justice released a joint statement with their intent to challenge the legislation.
City officials are careful with their wording of the legislation for fear of legal action.
“We need to be mindful of the Supreme Court ruling regarding pointing a sign in First Amendment rights,” City Manager Robert Herron said about the Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety ordinance at an Aug. 20 Rules Committee meeting. “This is clearly geared toward pedestrian safety and vehicular safety. You could still stand along the side of the road and have a sign, but you can't approach vehicles and go into the right of way and try to ask for and take money.”
In 1980, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment that “solicitation for money is closely intertwined with speech” and that “solicitation to pay or contribute money is protected under the First Amendment.”
If adopted, this legislation could put an end to the Wheeling Fire Department’s annual “Fill the Boot” donation drive. Each year, the department stands along roadways with empty boots, collecting funds for various charities. In previous years, firefighters have raised around $20,000 per event. In 2023, funds were raised for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.