PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Port Orange City Council members are slated to vote Tuesday on a new ordinance aimed at cracking down on aggressive panhandling around town.

Joseph Raico has been panhandling for the last four years, spending several of those at Port Orange intersections. 

“I say God bless you pretty much and I wave like this and I tell everybody yeah I am short $40 for a hotel,” said Raico, demonstrating his routine. 

Thanks to regular donations he’s able to make a living.

“Right now I’ve got $63,” Raico said. “I usually could make 100 bucks a day, I usually get close to that every day.

But he’s worried that could change if a new panhandling ordinance passes in Port Orange. 

“In Daytona Beach they did that like three or four years ago and I went to jail twice, I used to do it in Daytona,” Raico said. 

Mayor Don Burnette says panhandling has been a growing problem for them and believes more panhandlers have moved to Port Orange after enforcement began in Daytona Beach. 

“It is necessary now because it has been necessary for quite a while," Burnette said. 

He said he gets complaints about aggressive panhandling nearly every day. 

“They’ll aggressively follow people, they’ll berate them, they’ll go into traffic, we’ve got one that has urinated on the side of the road, we’ve got another that has gone in to a business and trashed a bathroom,” he said. 

Burnette said the ordinance won’t get rid of panhandling all together, but instead give them more resources to act if someone gets out of hand. 

“Panhandeling is an expression of free speech and the majority of the city it will still be a legal activity protected by the First Amendment, what we are trying to do here is address the negative behaviors that go along with aggressive panhandling that create the health safety and welfare issues for our residents and businesses alike,” Burnette said. 

At Debbie’s Health Foods, Manager Alicia Howarth is glad something is being done, as it is a problem she deals with daily. 

“We have people that sleep outside the store, it causes issues with customers coming in, we have the bank ATM next door so they are soliciting for people removing their money out of the ATM,” Howarth said. 

She says it has actually cost her some customers. 

“They don’t feel safe when they get out of their car because at any time they could be approached by a stranger that is asking them for money,” Howarth said. 

While Raico, who panhandles near her store, claimed he has never aggressive, he is now concerned he’ll be chased away and have to find a new place to panhandle.

“I’ll go homeless,” Raico said. 

At the first reading, the ordinance passed 5-0.

According to Burnette, if passed again, the ordinance will go in to effect as soon as he signs it.