Reading, PA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Chapter 353 of the Reading Codified Ordinances, adopted in 2002 and rewritten in 2021 by Ordinance No. 37-2021, bans panhandling, solicitation and begging in seven specific circumstances under Section 353-104(A). Solicitation is barred within 25 feet of an outdoor or sidewalk cafe, on private or residential property without the owner's permission, within 20 feet of a public toilet, and within 20 feet of the entrance to a bank, check-cashing business or ATM. It is also illegal to approach a driver or vehicle occupant on a public street to sell goods, offer a service, or solicit payment for reserving a parking space, and to solicit inside a bus, bus stop, public parking lot or parking facility.

Section 353-104(A)(7) separately bans panhandling in an aggressive manner anywhere in the city, a term Section 353-102 defines to include following a person more than 25 feet while soliciting, continuing to ask after a refusal, touching the person without consent, blocking someone's path, using profane or abusive language or an unreasonably loud voice, and soliciting someone waiting in line. The ordinance's stated purpose, in Section 353-101, is to balance free-speech rights with the right to walk city streets free of harassment, modeled on ordinances in Lancaster and Harrisburg.

Officers who witness a violation that imperils someone's safety can invoke the summary-arrest procedure under Pa. Code Rule 519. Passive panhandling, defined as standing or sitting with a sign without addressing a specific person, and street musicians and performers, are expressly exempted from the definition in Section 353-102.