Everybody wants something to be done about panhandling, but the bill passed last week by City Council probably won't do it. The measure forbids begging at night and near places such as churches, bus stops, sidewalk cafes and automated teller machines.

The proposal, which has the support of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, now awaits a decision from Mayor Tom Murphy. He could sign the bill into law, but it's all but certain to be challenged on First Amendment grounds for unfairly restricting free speech. A veto would save the city a loser of a lawsuit.

It's true that aggressive and excessive panhandlers are annoying. The Downtown Partnership and others feel they scare shoppers away. Certainly the prospect of being accosted by bedraggled vagrants dims the allure of a night on the town, not to mention the daytime lunch hour.

So council is right that something should be done. But prohibiting a panhandler's right to speak is not going to do it.

The Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union warned council that it objected to any attempt to shut people up during certain hours. ACLU Director Barb Feige explained, "Your freedom of speech does not disappear with the sun."

It's one thing to ban begging from certain places, like within a few feet of street vendors who must go to the trouble of obtaining city permits to sell their wares. That's been upheld as constitutional in other places. But the ACLU doesn't believe silencing beggars at dusk will be deemed legal on appeal.

Pittsburgh already has an ordinance forbidding beggars from touching, blocking or yelling at passers-by. If the problem is pushy panhandlers, then there's a good law already on the books that just needs to be enforced.

If the problem is an overpopulation of beggars, then the answer is social workers or ministers, not police officers. The bill that council passed calls for social service intervention on first arrest for begging at night. But it's not necessary to criminalize people in order to deliver social services.

Council needs to reconsider how best to deal with annoying panhandler behavior. But throwing the city's precious dollars away on a legal defense will not stop Downtown begging.