Everett, MA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 13-15 of the Everett Revised Ordinances, passed by the Everett City Council for the City of Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, states its purpose in subsection (b): to protect citizens from the fear and intimidation accompanying certain kinds of solicitation, not to limit a constitutionally protected activity.

Solicit, ask or beg means requesting, by spoken, written or printed word or other communication, an immediate donation or transfer of money or another thing of value, whether or not consideration is offered. Aggressive manner has six printed forms: approaching, speaking to or following a person in a way intended or likely to cause fear of bodily harm or loss of property, or intimidation into giving; intentionally touching a person or an occupied vehicle without consent; intentionally blocking the safe or free passage of a pedestrian or vehicle; violent or threatening gestures; persisting after the person has said by words or conduct that they do not want to be solicited; and profane, offensive or abusive language inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction. Public area includes sidewalks, streets, parks, parking lots, plazas, transportation facilities and the doorways and entrances to buildings.

Subsection (c) lists eight prohibited activities. Besides aggressive solicitation, it bars soliciting in a public transportation vehicle or passenger terminal, within thirty (30) feet of a bank, check cashing business or automated teller machine entrance during operating hours without the owner's consent, on private property after the owner has asked the person to stop or posted a sign, from operators of motor vehicles in traffic or stopped at a signal or stop sign even in exchange for window cleaning or parking help, by standing on or going into any street or highway including medians and ramps, from a person sitting in a parked vehicle, and from a person under sixteen (16) unaccompanied by an adult. Emergency repairs requested by the vehicle occupants are excepted from the motor vehicle rule.