Lauderhill, FL Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 14-101.1, adopted by Ord. No. 13O-12-159 in 2014 and amended by Ord. No. 21O-10-143 in 2021, targets right-of-way solicitors, peddlers, canvassers, beggars and panhandlers who approach vehicles engaged in traffic. The section defines "aggressively beg, panhandle or solicit" as any in-person request for money or an item of value made through unwanted touching, detaining, impeding or intimidation, drawing on Section 14-92's chapter-wide definitions of solicitor, peddler, beggar and panhandler. Subsection (c) designates specific prohibited roadways based on a city staff study of crash risk: the entire length of University Drive, and a 200-foot radius from the curb or boundary line at six intersections, Oakland Park Boulevard at Rock Island Road, Oakland Park Boulevard at Inverrary Boulevard/N.W.

56th Avenue, Sunrise Boulevard at N.W. 31st Avenue, and State Road 7 (U.S. 441) at 12th, 16th and 19th Streets. Beyond those roadways, subsections (d) through (f) apply citywide, barring solicitors and peddlers from obstructing traffic or aggressively begging, panhandling or soliciting on any state road in the city or any road joining a state road, from soliciting any vehicle occupant while the vehicle is in traffic, and from standing on a traffic median, bicycle path or public street in use by vehicular traffic to beg, panhandle, solicit or sell items.

The city commission's findings, drawn from a 2007 Florida Department of Highway Safety crash report showing 65 pedestrian deaths in Broward County that year and a local news account of 29 injuries and 14 deaths among solicitors over 15 years, support the roadway-specific restrictions. Enforcement does not preclude separate prosecution under F.S. § 316.130(5), and any violation of the section, or of Article VI generally, is punishable under the penalty schedule at Section 7½-3.