ACLU Targeting Shorewood Panhandling Law

SHOREWOOD, WI -- Eight Wisconsin cities, including Shorewood, are being targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin for repeal of their local anti-pandhandling laws.

The ACLU and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty sent letters Tuesday to Altoona, Glendale, Mequon, Racine, Superior, Shorewood and Wauwatosa.

“These cities should take these unconstitutional laws off the books and instead look for more constructive ways to address the needs of our fellow citizens experiencing homelessness and poverty,” Chris Ott, executive director of the state ACLU chapter, said in a prepared statement.

According to a Leader-Telegram report, since a 2015 Supreme Court decision in a free speech case, courts have struck down 25 other city ordinances against panhandling as unconstitutional. Another 31 cities repealed their ordinances, they added.

Here is the text of Shorewood's law:

§ 409-3Panhandling.

[Amended 2-25-2008 by Ord. No. 1935]
No person shall solicit on any of the streets, boulevards, or public thoroughfares or in any of the public buildings or in any public place or at any house, apartment, flat or other residence in the Village of Shorewood any money or thing of value to be used for the solicitor's own benefit.

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