New Rochelle, NY Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Article III of Chapter 231, Peace and Good Order, adopted January 20, 2015 by Ordinance No. 12-2015, defines panhandling in § 231-6(A) as any in-person solicitation on a street, public place, or park requesting an immediate donation of money or other gratuity, including vocal appeals, street performance, and transactions where an item of little or no value is exchanged for a donation; passively sitting or standing with a sign, without any vocal request, is expressly excluded. Subsection B makes it unlawful to panhandle, or to be panhandled, at a bus stop, inside any public transportation vehicle or facility, inside a vehicle parked or stopped on a public street or alley, in a sidewalk cafe, or within 20 feet in any direction of an ATM or bank entrance.

Subsection C separately criminalizes panhandling done in an "aggressive manner," listing six specific acts: touching the solicited person without consent; panhandling someone waiting in line to enter a business; blocking a person's path or the entrance to a building or vehicle; following a person who has walked away after being solicited; using profane or abusive language or a gesture that would make a reasonable person fearful or feel compelled to give; and panhandling as part of a group of two or more people. Subsection D declares each act of panhandling prohibited by the section a public nuisance and a separate Code violation, and lets a court enjoin a repeat violator from committing further violations.

The Council's stated purpose in § 231-5 is to keep the free flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, protect captive audiences near transit and ATMs from intimidation, and support tourism and business in the City.