ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL — Free speech has officially returned to the median with a Sharpie.

St. Johns County agreed to pay $90,000 and permanently stop enforcing its anti-panhandling ordinance after a federal lawsuit challenged the rule as unconstitutional. The ordinance, passed in 2023, banned panhandling on sidewalks and medians along county roadways and also restricted people from remaining on medians longer than needed to cross.

The lawsuit was brought by the Florida Justice Institute and Southern Legal Counsel on behalf of three local residents who had been warned, cited, fined, or arrested under the ordinance. Legal advocates argued that asking for charity is protected speech, and that the county could not allow roadside political campaigning while banning requests for help.

Which means the county has now paid $90,000 to learn that a cardboard sign can, in fact, have constitutional backing.

County officials previously framed the ordinance as a public safety measure. But under the settlement, the county agreed not to enforce the law moving forward, ending the roadside rule before it could rack up any more legal mileage.

The situation also highlights a bigger local tension: residents are still frustrated by panhandling at busy intersections, while advocates argue enforcement is no substitute for addressing housing, poverty, and basic survival.

So now St. Johns County is left with the awkward civic math of balancing public safety, poverty, free speech, traffic medians, and the reality that not every problem can be solved by writing an ordinance and hoping the First Amendment is on lunch break.

At publishing time, the median had resumed normal operations and was reportedly accepting signs, campaign slogans, and public confusion.