Corey Foley pulled a dollar bill and a handful of coins from his back pocket.
He had received the change after standing on the corner of Southwest Sixth Street and West University Avenue one morning holding a sign asking for money.
As a person experiencing homelessness, he relies on panhandling to get his food for the day, Foley said.
“I’m just trying to survive and live,” he said.
Foley, 50, used to panhandle on Gainesville medians before a 2021 city ordinance was passed prohibiting it. He received a citation for standing on the median in 2018, and he has since taken to the sidewalks to ask for help, he said.
Ordinance No. 200464 prohibits pedestrians from standing, sitting or walking on any median that is 6 feet in width or less. The exception is within areas with ADA accessibility features, pedestrian signals or flashing lights. Violators are given written warnings on the first offense, then a citation if there’s a later violation.
The ordinance was created in response to a 2019 car accident, in which a panhandler was struck and killedwhile standing on the median in northwest Gainesville.
To Mayor Harvey Ward, who fought for the ordinance’s passage, the bottom line is saving lives, he said.
“We’ve experienced one life lost,” Ward said. “I don’t want to see it again.”
He proudly voted for the ordinance to pass and wants to continue its enforcement, he said.
While the ordinance has been around for four years, the Gainesville Police Department has recently begun enforcing it. In 2024, there were several dozen cases of citations, and there have been four cases in 2025 as of Feb. 14.
Sgt. Shelley Postle said GPD began enforcing the ordinance once it was enacted. However, the number of citation cases has increased recently compared to previous years.
Shortly after the ordinance’s passage, officers focused on educating frequent median dwellers about the newly created rules before issuing warnings. Pedestrians were told they could not stand on medians less than 6 feet wide.
While officers primarily rely on verbal warnings to people standing on the median, they may give written warnings or citations for repeated offenses. Still, the ultimate goal is not to cite people, Postle said.
“The main objective is to give them information that prioritizes their safety,” Postle said. “Our officers primarily rely on verbal warning.”
Chelsea Dunn, a legal director at Southern Legal Counsel, Inc., doesn’t doubt the ordinance was passed to target panhandling, she said.
“I wouldn’t say there’s no safety component to it,” she said. “But I do think the true motivation was to keep panhandlers out of the median.”
Southern Legal Counsel is a not-for-profit public interest law firm that specializes in civil legal matters. It has filed several lawsuits against ordinances specifically prohibiting panhandling or charitable solicitation.
“When cities enforce ordinances like this, regardless of what their stated reasons are, it seems clear that part of the real purpose is to drive individuals experiencing homelessness out of sight,” she said.
Dunn said the relationship between law enforcement and the community of homeless individuals has changed recently. The policing of the homeless community has increased drastically in the past six months, she said.
“People who are unsheltered are being run out of the city and moved from place to place with nowhere to go,” she said.
King James, who preferred to go by a nickname, said he agrees with the unfairness as a person experiencing homelessness. The recent enforcement of the ordinance feels like an extermination, he said.
“They offered it, and now they’re taking it away from us,” James said.
Gordon Burnstein, an advocate for the homeless, said while standing on the median is not safe, there is a bias because the homeless community is not allowed to sit or stand anywhere.
“It’s all legislated and allowed,” Burnstein said. “Regardless who comes to the bat to say it’s not the right thing.”
GPD plans to continue enforcing the ordinance by focusing on distributing verbal warnings before citations.
“We just want them to know the risks that are associated with it,” Postle said.