Youngstown, OH Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 509.08, Improper Solicitation, sits in Chapter 509, Disorderly Conduct and Peace Disturbance, and regulates panhandling by time, place and manner rather than banning it outright. The time restriction in subsection (b) makes it unlawful to solicit after sunset and before sunrise anywhere in the City. Subsection (c) adds place limits: no soliciting inside a public transportation vehicle or at a bus or train stop, from an occupant or operator of a vehicle on the street, or on private property without the owner's permission. Subsection (d) is the aggressive-solicitation core the ordinance targets: it bars coming within three feet of the person solicited unless that person indicates a wish to donate, blocking a sidewalk or street path, following someone who walks away, and soliciting in a manner that would alarm, intimidate, menace, harass or coerce a reasonable person, using profane or abusive language or gestures, or touching the solicited person without an invitation to do so.

Subsection (e) separately bars false or misleading solicitation, listing examples such as falsely claiming to be homeless, a veteran, or disabled, or inventing a need for the money. The Youngstown Police Department enforces the section citywide, including downtown along Federal Street and near YSU, where panhandling complaints concentrate. Subsection (f) contains a severability clause protecting the rest of the section if any part is struck down.