The recent proliferation of sidewalk cafes in downtown has given rise to a new complaint: getting hit up for change at the dinner table.

Management hears it from the cappuccino-sipping customers at Minuti Coffee, the cocktail drinkers at Hearsay Gastro Lounge and the gourmands at Samba Grille. Dunning diners, the restaurateurs say, is harassment.

Now, it's illegal.

City Council on Wednesday passed a ban on panhandling within 8 feet of a sidewalk cafe. Violation of the buffer zone is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum fine of $500.

"You're sitting at an outdoor table at a restaurant. Someone comes and looms over you and starts asking for money. That's an intimidating situation, and you don't have really an opportunity to escape," Mayor Annise Parker said.

City ordinance already prohibited panhandling within 8 feet of ATMs, parking meters, bus shelters and gas pumps. The council extended the rule to outdoor dining establishments.

"I want people to come and visit and patronize restaurants downtown," said Councilman James Rodriguez, who proposed broadening the panhandling ordinance on behalf of downtown restaurateurs who are his District I constituents.

About 30 downtown restaurants now have outdoor seating, according to the Houston Downtown Management District.

It was not the only public policy question on Wednesday's agenda prompted by the desire to smooth some of friction generated by downtown gentrification. The council also had before it an extension to East Downtown of a so-called civility ordinance that bans sleeping and sitting on sidewalks, in response to loft and apartment residents who report frequent instances of public urination, littering and noise nuisances. Action on that item was delayed for a week.

Asked if the city merely was treating symptoms instead of causes through such ordinances, Parker replied simply, "Yes." The city also strives to maintain a social safety net, Parker explained, and tries to help those that fall through it by cooperating with agencies that serve the homeless.

More for you News Sidewalk cafe customers get 8-foot buffer from panhandlers

Thao Costis, president and CEO of the homeless services organization SEARCH, confirmed Houston's earnestness in working on the big picture of homelessness. Costis said SEARCH does not condone panhandling and the new ban is unlikely to impose much of a hardship on the homeless, since there are several places for them to get meals. The recent City Council ordinances, however, are a distraction, she said.

"All of these are addressing symptoms and not channeling our energies toward actually addressing the problem," Costis said. "Let's come up with answers rather than fixing these little symptoms."

The symptoms are bad for business, though, Rodriguez said.

Diners who choose downtown restaurants are sometimes discouraged from returning because of brushes with beggars. Samba Grille managing partner Nathan Ketcham told Rodriguez in an email that he has had to give away thousands of dollars' worth of meals to customers upset by their encounters with panhandlers. The general manager at Houston Pavilions informed Rodriguez that several restaurants have chosen not to open patios along Dallas Street because of the proliferation of panhandling.

Jefferson Bryan said he regularly has shooed off panhandlers from the eight outdoor tables at Ziggy's Bar and Grill on Main Street since it opened a year and a half ago. Even a small nuisance, he said, can affect business when diners have the option of eating beggar-free and in air-conditioned comfort at a multitude of underground restaurants.

"It takes one bad experience, and they may not come out of the tunnels for a while," Bryan said.

chris.moran@chron.com