Beggars can't be sitters on Santa Monica's benches

Santa Monica has a message for panhandlers on the Third Street Promenade: Stand up, please.

If you're going to ask for cheeseburgers or spare change -- or sell cookies (and you know who you are) -- don't do it while resting on one of the public chairs or benches.

That goes for you, Mr. Greenpeace Advocate. And you too, little Miss Girl Scout.

Having restricted, to some degree, where homeless people can eat and sleep, Santa Monica is zeroing in on panhandlers.

The City Council voted unanimously last month to prohibit solicitation by anyone sitting on public chairs or benches on the Third Street Promenade and the so-called transit mall along two neighboring streets, Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard. The ordinance, which must be approved on a second reading, expected next month, does not seek to ban panhandling or solicitation outright but rather to free up limited public seating.