Bruce Elfant
Notebook Archives
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Constable's Notebook - November 2007
Almost every day on my way home when I exit IH 35 at Airport I am greeted by
one or more panhandlers with signs asking for money. A recent study conducted by the
Center for Problem Oriented Policing, found that most panhandlers are unemployed males
in their 30s or 40s with substance abuse problems and few family ties. Some suffer
from mental illnesses but not most. Many have minor criminal records but are as likely
to have been victims of crimes. Some are transient but many have been in the community
for a long time. In Austin some women and veterans resort to panhandling and yet there
are some who would pose as mothers and veterans. While most of us are pained by the
sight of people begging for money on the streets, and our respective religions and
belief systems all tell us that we should help the least amongst us, we are reluctant
to give them money because we believe that it would be spent for alcohol or drugs.
The Austin City Council has scheduled a public hearing to consider an ordinance that
would prohibit panhandling within 1,000 feet of public schools and daycare centers.
The proposed ordinance is supported by Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo who said that
“vehicles and pedestrians do not mix”. Council Member Jennifer Kim cited the 211
solicitation citations within 1,000 feet of schools as evidence of creating an unsafe
environment. Opponents argue that the vast majority of panhandlers are not aggressive,
do not jump into traffic, and the current ordinance prohibits people from blocking traffic.
Richard Troxell, a long time Austin advocate for the homeless expressed his concern that
“panhandling is a big sign that there is a disease in our community and outlawing
panhandling does not attack the root causes of why people choose something so humiliating,
dangerous, and frankly hardly worthwhile financially.”
Austin is far from alone in its attempts to limit panhandling. Nearly half of all U.S.
cites have passed some type of limits on panhandling in particular public places. Many
cities that have attempted to enact de facto bans on all solicitation (including Austin)
have been rebuffed by the courts as a violation of free speech. City ordinances that more
narrowly addressed panhandling by prohibiting “aggressive” panhandling such as touching,
screaming, accosting, or blocking, or asking for money in a confined space have met with
more success in the courts. Some cities have required panhandlers to be licensed while
other cities have urged their citizens to instead donate to social service agencies
dedicated to helping those who want to be helped.
It is not clear whether the proposed panhandling ordinance will pass or withstand
constitutional muster. But we know that by simply outlawing the symptom of panhandling
(with aggressive enforcement) city council members cannot make the underlying problem
go away. Any productive discussion of regulating panhandling should also include a better
understanding of why people resort to begging for money on public streets and what can be
done to help.
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