UPDATE:Â The amendments to the panhandling ordinance passed unanimously.
Tonight, the Greensboro City Council considers significant revisions to the ordinance governing public soliciting, begging and panhandling. The proposed changes would result in a de facto ban on panhandling in the downtown area, and would strictly limit panhandling throughout the rest of the city.
From today’s News and Greensboro:
The City Council will consider amending an ordinance tonight that would limit where panhandlers can stand in their quest for money.
Parking lots and decks would be off-limits, and panhandlers would have to put some distance between themselves and ATMs, as well as the parking meters that line much of downtown.
Entrances to businesses and residences also made the list, along with visible barricades for outdoor cafes. The new rules also make it a misdemeanor to panhandle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Breathalyzing panhandlers? It could happen, I guess. The City can’t enact an outright ban on panhandling because courts have ruled that it’s a protected activity under free speech laws. I assume that the City Attorney has vetted the proposed ordinance changes to ensure that an amended ordinance would withstand a Constitutional challenge.
I was interviewed for the News & Record article, and I want to clarify a couple of sentences.
Michele Forrest, whose blog ‘Chosen Fast’ focuses on homeless issues, said most people who panhandle have underlying drug or alcohol issues. Not all are homeless, she said.
That should have said:
…most of the people that I know personally who panhandle have underlying drug or alcohol issues…
I know a lot of people who panhandle. A significant majority of them have drug and/or alcohol problems. I don’t know every panhandler everywhere. I was speaking anecdotally, not statistically. (Although I’ve seen statistics that parallel my experience.) Just wanted to clarify that.
And this:
The city began requiring panhandlers to obtain licenses in 2003. That year, the city issued 43 licenses. Now, 295 people have them, according to city records.
But that might not accurately reflect the number of people who panhandle, Forrest said. Many homeless are transient and some get the license just in case, she said.
And some get the license because, although they don’t regularly panhandle, they may have done it at some point without a license, and been caught and cited, and they needed to get a license to show in court. Which brings up another issue: penalties. I’ve heard both from panhandlers and from police officers that the penalty for violating the city panhandling ordinance isn’t clearly defined. I’ve heard from a number of people who’ve been cited that the judge simply dismissed the charge.
I’d previously spoken to Greensboro City Council member Zack Matheny about the panhandling problem downtown, and we spoke again today. I suggested that he look into the penalty issue. My suggestion is to have it involve community service or substance abuse treatment or something that would help people. Raising fines on people who don’t have any money probably isn’t going to be very effective.
I also mentioned to Matheny that most of the concerns seem to be about aggressive panhandling, which is already prohibited under our current ordinance. Police officers regularly issue citations for violations of the current ordinance. So why are we still having a problem? I think there are three reasons: cops can’t be everywhere all the time, the penalties aren’t a deterrent to the behavior, and the underlying issue for the majority of panhandlers is addiction. So panhandling continues, and it’s a problem for the public and for the homeless.
Not all homeless people panhandle, and not all panhandlers are homeless. But unfortunately, most people associate panhandling with homelessness, so the aggressive panhandlers in our city are contributing to a negative public perception of homelessness that affects all homeless people. I’ve spoken to homeless folks who are vocally unhappy about that. Among their ideas for resolving the problem: Put up posters of the aggressive offenders. I don’t love that idea. I’ve yet to see anybody shamed into recovery. But it makes clear that the homeless folks I talked to are willing to take bold steps to stop the problem of aggressive panhandling. We’ll see what happens with the proposed ordinance changes.
I’m at home sick, with a sick kid, so I’m watching the Council meeting on TV. The discussion about panhandling should be interesting. You can watch it, too, on Greensboro cable channel 13, or online here.
