The Bremerton City Council is considering legislation to limit panhandling on city streets. And they’re doing it in the name of safety and to support local businesses.

It’s not a matter of limiting free speech, but rather, as Police Chief Steve Strachan put it, it’s needed for safety.

Panhandlers are known to walk out into traffic which can be a distraction for drivers. Some of them like to stand near bank ATMs and ask bank customers for money after they’ve just withdrawn a handful of bills. That makes people feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.

The proposed ordinance would make it unlawful to panhandle within 25 feet of an ATM or bus stop, and would create no-panhandling zones on many of Bremerton’s busiest traffic ways, including on Sixth, 11th and Burwell streets, Charleston Boulevard, Sheridan Road, Kitsap, Wheaton and Sylvan ways and Naval and Washington Avenues.

Every community has had to deal with panhandling at times.

In Central Kitsap, near the Silverdale Mall, some panhandlers like to stand in the triangle medians at Silverdale Way and Ridgetop Boulevard. Oftentimes calls go out to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office asking that deputies remove the panhandlers. Store owners have said that they discourage customers from visiting their businesses and they cause traffic hazards.

But deputies from the sheriff’s office say they have no ability to remove the panhandlers because of First Amendment rights ­— the right to free speech.

While jurisdiction in Central Kitsap falls to the county, on the streets of Bremerton, the city council soon will have the opportunity to limit where panhandlers can stand.

The real crime in all of this is, that in a county like ours, there are people who have to beg in order to feed their families. Their stories are well known … a loss of a job … sickness and medical bills … a broken marriage … or mental illness. The local social service networks say they are there to help and they want those in need to come to them. But sometimes, for whatever reason, that doesn’t happen.

What’s needed is a county-wide solution so that panhandlers don’t just move from one area to another. Regulation that protects the panhandlers’ right to ask and the public’s right to be safe is what’s needed.

And, then, we must work on a concentrated effort to direct those in need to the social services that exist in our communities to help them out of the cycle of poverty.