Omaha City Council passed the median restriction ordinance Tuesday in a 6-1 vote.

The new ordinance prohibits anyone from loitering on medians within 200 feet of Omaha's most dangerous intersections.

"This ordinance addresses public safety and the risk to everyone who uses our city streets. The Public Works Department already evaluates all intersections for safety and publishes a list each year of the most dangerous intersections. We will use this list to determine which locations meet the criteria established by the ordinance," said Mayor Jean Stothert.

Omaha City Council Member Pete Festersen's district includes the major intersections on Dodge near Crossroads Mall - popular territory for panhandlers.

"It is a concern. And there have been some accidents and some incidents of cars and people having close calls," said Festersen.

Not everyone agrees the ordinance will help curb Omaha's panhandling problem. Council Member Vinny Palermo told 6 News: "Will this ordinance solve the problem at hand? No. I think ultimately it's just ignoring the actual problem we have."

Palermo said the problem isn't median safety, it's poverty.

“It’s dangerous to be standing in that median. Not just for the people in the median but for the people in the cars as well going through the intersections. So that really was done as a safety issue," said Omaha City Council member Aimee Melton. "I know that there are people that want us to ban panhandling completely. They don’t want to see them anywhere but unfortunately the First Amendment says that they have the right to do it and the Supreme Court has upheld that’s what we want to make sure that we’re not violating anyone's constitutional rights.”