Livonia, MI Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 9.40.010 defines who counts as a disorderly person in the city, and subsection C.4 targets aggressive solicitation specifically. It is unlawful to solicit the immediate payment of money or goods from another person, whether or not in exchange for goods, services, or other consideration, under eight listed circumstances: soliciting on private property without the owner's or occupant's permission; approaching someone in a vehicle on a public street; obstructing pedestrian or vehicular traffic; soliciting within ten feet of an automated teller machine; moving within two feet of the person being solicited unless that person has signaled willingness; following and continuing to solicit someone who has walked away; knowingly making a false or misleading statement while soliciting; or soliciting in a manner a reasonable person would find intimidating, threatening or harassing.

The ordinance does not ban panhandling outright; a passive or one-time request for money that avoids all eight listed behaviors falls outside Section 9.40.010(C)(4)'s reach, which ties liability to specific aggressive conduct rather than the act of asking for money itself. The Livonia Police Department enforces the section as part of the broader disorderly-persons chapter, and the penalty clause in Section 9.40.060 applies to every offense in Chapter 9.40, including this one, rather than the citywide default in Section 1.12.010.