Colorado Springs Enforcing Panhandling Buffer
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Colorado Springs officials are warning that panhandlers could be ticketed if they actively solicit people within 20 feet of entrances to homes or businesses.
The city last year passed an ordinance to ban any type of solicitation within a 12-block zone downtown, but a federal judge blocked enforcement of the zone while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds. Opponents of the ban say it's overly broad and would even block Salvation Army bell ringers from the zone.
City officials said Wednesday that the judge's order only applied to the part of the ordinance that created the downtown no-solicitation zone. Another part of the ordinance that says people who are soliciting must stay at least 20 feet from building entryways still stands.
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