Wheaton Committee Urges County to Get Authority from State to Tackle Panhandling

The Wheaton Urban District Advisory Committee voted Tuesday to ask the County Council to request that the state give it the authority to regulate or ban roadside panhandling in Montgomery County.

The committee voted unanimously to ask the council to request comprehensive, enabling legislation from the state legislature that would give it the necessary authority to either prohibit or regulate the practice through some sort of permitting system.

The county cannot act to regulate or stop the practice without authority from the state.

The practice of panhandling in the street, known as roadside solicitation, has been a source of contention in Wheaton. Business owners worry that the presence of people asking pedestrians and drivers for money will drive customers away from its business district. Others worry about the prospect of roadside panhandlers wandering or stumbling into traffic to collect money, particularly along busy thoroughfares like Georgia Avenue and Viers Mill Road, and getting hit by cars.

         "I saw a man almost fall into the street," said WUDAC member Marian Fryer. "I don't want to hit somebody."

         WUDAC members argued that, if the state authorized the county to take action on roadside panhandling, they could then testify as to whether they would prefer that the practice be banned outright or regulated though a permitting process. Groups such as firefighters also collect money by standing in the streets and soliciting drivers, raising the issue of whether the practice should be regulated instead of banned.

         In other action:

_  WUDAC voted to send the county executive a letter requesting that a task force be convened to look at the issue of food trucks and whether they contribute to the sustainability of the community. Some business owners have raised concerns that food trucks have fewer expenses than restaurants and don't pay property taxes but could potentially drive restaurants out of business, reducing the county's tax base, by parking near restaurant entrances and competing for customers.