MOUNT VERNON — John Chaffee is not who Mount Vernon’s new aggressive begging ordinance is after.

Under the ordinance passed Wednesday, panhandling within 15 feet of an ATM, a building entrance, pay phone, self-serve car wash or fuel pump, public transit stop or a parked car with occupants entering or exiting would be presumed aggressive and would be a misdemeanor punishable by 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

Chaffee stands farther back from all of those things, he said. But even before the City Council unanimously approved the measure, Chaffee was feeling its effect.

A passing motorist stopped recently to tell him, with glee, that the panhandling crackdown was coming, he said. And as Chaffee, 49, stood talking with a reporter at the intersection of College Way and Market Street while holding a small cardboard sign inscribed with dollar and peace signs, a Mount Vernon police officer interrupted to make sure everything was all right.

Someone had called 911 to report problematic panhandling, the officer said.

Police have stepped up their response to panhandling after receiving complaints from businesses and patrons this summer about aggressive beggars, particularly downtown.

Brian Fish, manager of the Bank of America on West Kincaid Street, said he called police four times in a week and a half. Five men who hung around the benches across South First Street would approach patrons as they parked their cars or went to or from the bank’s ATM, he said.

“It makes the customers feel uncomfortable,” said Fish, who said the problem peaked in July and early August but ended recently as police increased patrols.

Even with the decrease in panhandling, Fish said he supports the aggressive begging ordinance and thinks the added regulations are needed.

Mayor Bud Norris said the same just before the council voted on the ordinance Wednesday. Though calls from downtown business owners and the resulting police response have kept away downtown panhandlers recently, he urged the council to pass the measure.

And many on the council were willing to go further. Councilman Joe Lindquist said he might support a ban on panhandling that stops traffic, and Dale Ragan asked City Attorney Kevin Rogerson what prevents the council from completely banning begging.

The U.S. Constitution, Rogerson answered. He said that soliciting alms is protected in the Constitution and that the council would need to be careful about going farther than its new regulation, which is modeled after a Seattle ordinance that already passed the state Supreme Court’s muster.

Chaffee looked at the issue from the other side. He said those who hang around downtown businesses might need the money, and if the only way for them to get it is to stand by a bank, then let them. Maybe their house burned down, he said.

That is what happened to Chaffee, who said he lost his Port Hadlock home in a fire. He now lives in a trailer in Lyman and pays $425 in rent each month from his $727 disability check.

“I would not be for it,” he said of the aggressive begging ordinance. “If a person was just legitimately panhandling, and peaceably, I think with a sign that says you need help — that is a legitimate way to do it.”

Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at