Greensboro anti-peddler ordinance defeated

The Greensboro City Council has voted 7-2 against an anti-peddler ordinance proposed by District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny that would have prohibited people from door-to-door soliciting after 6 p.m. The current ordinance prohibits soliciting after sundown.

The vote came after council heard comments from an Oak Ridge door-to-door salesman, who said he derives 50 percent of his business selling food products in Greensboro. The salesman said most people are not home before 5:30, that he eats into his savings during the winter months when people are broke and the sun sets around 5:30 p.m., and that he makes up his revenue in the summer months when there are more hours of daylight and people are thinking about grilling out. If Greensboro passed such an ordinance, he said, he would expect other Triad municipalities to follow suit, and his livelihood would effectively be destroyed.

Matheny amended his motion to prohibit soliciting after 7 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.

Salesman: "The problem with the 7 p.m. time is the hours between 7 and 8 are very productive. The good Lord closes the business day, from my point of view, when the sun goes down, and that’s the way I’d like to keep it."

Matheny: "I’ve continued to get complaints and concern about people walking through neighborhoods and the increase in crime in the neighborhoods, from retirees, from single mothers…."

District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade was the only other member who voted in support of Matheny's proposal. Mayor Yvonne Johnson had previously expressed support for the proposed ordinance.