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Regular Meeting January 31,2005 Welsch's comments, but asked the Council if a significant portion of the work would be done in the Loop. She asked if the Loop Special Business District had any particular feelings about large-scale work undertaken for such a long period of time. She thinks shop owners and pedestrian districts where the solicitation will occur should be considered. Mayor Adams agreed with Ms. Brungardt about the place of the solicitation and whether the Business District has been consulted. Mark Silsky, 31080 A Euclid, a representative of the organization, was present to answer questions. Ms. Colquitt asked at one given time, how many workers would be soliciting, and what would their time-frame be? He said they would solicit between 11 am and 4 pm and there will never be more than three persons collecting in the Delmar area at one point. Ms. Colquitt wanted to know how much of the funds collected will remain in Missouri, and Mr. Silsky said he did not have an actual breakdown. There are two sites in Missouri and about eighty nation-wide. The current emphasis is on reducing poverty in rural America. Ms. Colquitt asked about the address he gave and he said it was for the Public Interest Research Group. She said the Police Department should be advised that solicitation is going on. Mr. Wagner, too, was concerned about the shop owners and asked the City Manager if the permit issues to cover a shorter length of time? Mr. Ollendorff said the City Ordinance allows such solicitations for a period of three weeks. Mr. Wagner reiterated his question to ask if a shorter length of time could be invoked by the Council and the City Manager said the Council could ask the applicant to shorten the solicitation. He was not certain that the Council could shorten the solicitation time on their own; the ordinance was designed to ensure civil liberties and free speech. He does not believe it is possible to limit free speech any more than the ordinance all ready limits it. Mr. Wagner sees three weeks as an arbitrary number and feels two weeks is just as valid, and thereby questioned Mr. Ollendorff's interpretation of the ordinance. Ms. Welsch went on record as saying signature gathering for petitions is in the finest tradition of University City and she would hate to see it limited in the Loop area, whose shop owners she sees as benefiting from the activity, and hopes this request will be passed. She said this is different from panhandling. Ms. Brot asked if the Save the Children's purpose was specifically limited to reducing poverty for children in rural areas and was advised that the vast majority of work done by Save the Children is for this purpose. She then asked why they are not soliciting door-to-door for this campaign. Mr. Silsky said it enables them to greatly diversify the number of people encountered. They seek to involve the greatest number of people to work on this issue. Ms. Brot agreed with holding the petition drives amongst the greatest number of people, but questioned if the permit would allow Save the Children to solicit beyond the Loop area, and was advised that it would not. They applied to solicit on the public rights-of-way only. Mr. Ollendorff said the City Council's preference has been to grant permission for soliciting in well-lit public right-of-ways. This applicant is aware of this and is trying to comply. If they decide to go door-to-door, they must amend their application and return. Ms. Brot encouraged them to consider door-to-door as a larger source of funds and Page 9