PENNSYLVANIA Old law restricts solicitors' collecting

The cost of soliciting for funds in the city is taking a steep jump.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Solicitors and peddlers seeking money in the city are no longer allowed to stand in the street to do it.
Technically, they haven't been allowed to do that since 1978.
City council, at its Wednesday meeting, passed the final version of an ordinance that will require solicitors to get a city permit that will cost $25 for the first day and $10 per day thereafter for each person doing the soliciting.
Solicitors or peddlers also will have to submit information to the police department for a criminal background check before they can begin soliciting or selling. They also will have to be fingerprinted.
The previous cost was just $1, and no background check or fingerprinting was required.
Past allowances
When questions arose about veterans groups and other organizations that stand in the street to solicit donations, Atty. William Madden, city solicitor, pointed out that was already forbidden under city law.
There is an ordinance passed in 1978 that specifically bans people from standing in the street to solicit money from passing vehicles.
Mayor David O. Ryan said he thought veterans groups were exempt form that regulation, and he has allowed others, such as city firefighters who collect annually for Muscular Dystrophy, to use the streets as well based on the city's past practices.
He said he won't allow that practice again until council addresses the issue.
Madden suggested the city consider limiting such collections to certain intersections.
That issue will be taken up later, along with a possible ban on anyone under 18 working as a solicitor and a limit on the number of times a year a group can solicit for funds.
Allotting funds
In other business, council:
*Approved filing an application for up to $500,000 in Pennsylvania Hometown Streets Program funding to improve intersections in the main business district. Rosette Fisher, community development director, said the city has only until Monday to file the application. It will target three primary intersections selected for improvement in a downtown revitalization plan prepared for the city two years ago. They are the Sharpsville, Vine and Irvine avenue intersections with State Street. The revitalization plan calls for brick intersections with concrete crosswalks to make the roadways more attractive to visitors.
*Awarded a $984,923 general construction contract to Rien Construction Co. of Brookfield and a $52,770 electrical contract to Penn-Ohio Electric of Brookfield for renovation of the Shenango Valley Community Library. Council delayed awarding a heating and air conditioning contract until the library's board decides whether it will contribute to the cost. Sharon secured a $625,000 state grant and is putting up $625,000 it borrowed through a bond issue to finance the project.