The signs that appeared at two Denver intersections this week had all the trappings of an official warning from the city.
In bold letters on a red and white background the signs, which have been removed, blared: “Violation of City Code Section 9-1001, No Panhandling, Loitering, Trespassing.”
But Denver has no such numbered code aimed at keeping the streets free of panhandlers, said David Broadwell, assistant city attorney. “I can’t find any numbers that are even similar,” he said.
And no Denver city agency had anything to do with posting the signs at the intersections of East Sixth Avenue and York Street and East Sixth and Josephine Street.
At least one city does have a panhandling code with that number, but it isn’t in Colorado. Section 9-1001 is the Savannah, Ga., ordinance prohibiting begging in the city limits: “It shall be unlawful for any person to beg or solicit money or aid in his own behalf in any place of business, house or upon any of the streets of the city.”
Bob Scanlon, who heads Savannah’s Water Resources and Public Works Bureau, said the sign doesn’t resemble any used in Savannah. “It is nothing we ever put up.”
The Denver Department of Public Works took the signs down Monday after learning of their existence from The Denver Post. “Public Works took the signs down since they are not traffic control signs and were not installed by the City. Nothing can be posted on a post that has a traffic control sign on it per federal code which is adopted by state and city,” Public Works spokeswoman Christine Downs, said in an e-mail.
Maybe a neighborhood association put them up?
“I can’t imagine any neighborhood association putting something like that up. We certainly wouldn’t,” said Roger Armstrong, executive director of Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods. “Certainly there’s neighbors that react in different ways and (might) take it on themselves.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
