Rochester, NY Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Chapter 111's Article IV, governing public parking garages, contains a standalone loitering section, § 111-123, last amended November 26, 1957. It reads simply that no person shall loiter or sleep on or about the premises of any parking garage as defined in that article, covering city-owned garage structures rather than streets, sidewalks or other public property generally. Because a loitering citation is not a parking, standing or stopping violation, it falls outside the Parking Violations Bureau's fine schedule in § 111-85A and instead is governed by the chapter's general penalty provision, § 111-85B, which applies to violations of Chapter 111 other than parking violations and off-road-vehicle violations under § 111-80.

That general provision authorizes a fine of up to $150, imprisonment of up to 15 days, or both, or alternatively a civil penalty of not less than $25 nor more than $500 recoverable by the City in a civil action. Rochester's broader public-conduct rules elsewhere in the Municipal Code, such as the Public Market's ban on begging, loitering or soliciting patronage on market grounds, are similarly site-specific rather than a general citywide loitering prohibition.