Re Solicitors: City Administrator Says To "Call The Police;" vs Shut The Front Door
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In a post to the City of Beacon’s Facebook page, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White encouraged people to call the police after a person comes to an individual’s residence to sell services, as it is a violation of the City’s Peddling and Soliciting Law instead of simply shutting the front door.
People who come around selling services include local roofing companies, who will tell you they are “just finishing up a job on your street, and we wanted to give you an estimate or give you our card.” You can shut the front door.
Most common are younger people who come around selling alternative energy choices, and ask to see your Central Hudson bill to determine how much money you can save with their company. These people are usually from out of state and hired by those alternative energy companies to go around neighborhoods soliciting. These people are sometimes put up in hotels in Fishkill to do this work. For them, they are doing what they were hired to do. For us, they may be breaking Beacon’s local Peddling and Soliciting Law.
When you ask to see their Peddler’s Permit, they may say: “My manager has it,” or “I didn’t bring it with me.” All you need to do is shut the front door. In 2018, there was a convincing campaign going around for testing the water. The company did apply for an receive a Peddler’s Permit, according to then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, but their marketing was masked, as reported by ALBB. Read about that here.
If your child is home with you, and they see you swiftly deny this person consideration for their services, your child may tone-police you and say: “Mommy, why were you rude to that person?” You can simply say: “It is not rude to deny a person entry to our home, or consideration for their services. If that is rude, then sometimes Mommy is rude.”
No included in the Peddler’s Permit requirement are Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, school groups, and politicians. Former Beacon City Councilmember and current Chair for the Spirit of Beacon Day, Ali T. Muhammad, responded to the Facebook message with this comment: “And this is not a message telling you not to participate in the electoral process of signing someone’s petition to get on the ballot. Support the process. It’ll help you become an informed voter.”
Calling the police is an escalation. Just say no. Or “No thank you, have a nice day.”
During campaign seasons, people seeking to get onto the local ballot are required to get a number of signatures to be considered. Especially if that person is new to politics, this might be a new face.
Message From The City Administrator Chris White:
From the original post, the message reads: “The City has received reports over the past week of solicitors going door to door to sell services. If someone comes to your door, please ask them to show their City of Beacon permit and check the date to make sure it is not expired. All solicitors are required to obtain and carry a "Peddling and Soliciting Permit" under our local law with the exception of local youth (e.g. Scouts, school groups) and political candidates. If they cannot show their Peddler Permit, please call the Police at 845-831-4111 and report them for violating the City's Peddler Law. Also, if you do not want any solicitors at your home, you can either put up signage stating "No Solicitors" or register your address on the City's "No Knock List."
