Liberal or not, Austin ponders a ban on panhandling

[peejay 327]

Liberal or not, Austin ponders a ban on panhandling

Councilman wants to stop street begging and day laborers

By LISA SANDBERG

2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — John Henry Smith insists he makes an honest living begging for money at intersections in the state's capital. In a few hours, with his swollen left leg exposed, he can make $70 or $80.

"It helps to be sick," said the 49-year-old Lubbock native, who was shot in the leg 30 years ago.

Austin has long been a tolerant place, but the ubiquitous street corner presence of Smith and other panhandlers has one city council member calling for an outright ban on the activity in most parts of the city.

Councilman Brewster McCracken's proposal also takes aim at day laborers. It would prohibit people from publicly soliciting work anywhere but the city's two day-labor sites.

On any given day, dozens of laborers — most of them immigrants, some legal U.S. residents, some not — bypass the city-run centers and congregate instead on a patch of grass next to a Home Depot store along Interstate 35 in north Austin.

The proposed crackdown has left civil libertarians, immigrant advocates and homeless groups seething — and vowing a fight.

"These proposals are not driven by the facts. They're driven by fear and scapegoating," said Rebecca Bernhardt, director of policy development at the American Civil Liberties Union in Texas. "This is about poverty profiling: Poor people are dangerous; therefore, we have to create rules that keep them out of all public spaces and away from everybody."

McCracken's proposal would ban panhandling on all roads and within 1,000 feet of schools and day care centers. That would put most of the city off-limits, according to a color-coded map of the restricted areas being proposed.

The councilman said he has nothing against poor people; in fact, he wants to protect them and those from whom they solicit, he said.

"It is an inherently threatening environment for strangers to come up to your car window" and for panhandlers and day laborers who "walk through traffic" looking for money or work, McCracken said.

Whether his proposal will fly in Austin, a city that hardly blinks when a cross-dressing man known to all as Leslie runs for mayor, is not clear.

Austin already has an ordinance banning the intentional blocking of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. And state law bars pedestrians from standing in a roadway to solicit money or employment from passing motorists, though cities can exempt charitable organizations.

But McCracken said those laws are difficult to enforce.

Some of McCracken's colleagues on the seven-member council say they support his idea in principle but would probably vote for it only if it were scaled back.

Councilman Lee Leffingwell said he's concerned McCracken's proposal "would be tantamount to a citywide ban," which U.S. courts have ruled unconstitutional on free-speech grounds.

"I think (the proposal) is probably dead the way it is now written," Leffingwell said.

Mayor Will Wynn will reserve judgment on the issue until after a Nov. 29 public hearing, said his chief of staff, Rich Bailey.

Basing his proposal on safety concerns, McCracken noted that a third of the 18 pedestrians killed by vehicles through September this year had at one point received panhandling citations. But none of the police reports indicates the victim was panhandling at the time of their death.

City leaders say they are not insensitive to the plight of their poorest residents. McCracken said the city has done its part for laborers and panhandlers, many of whom, he said, flock to Austin from elsewhere, drawn by its mild winters and the perceived generosity of its residents.

The city may not have beds for all of its estimated 6,000 homeless, McCracken said, but it has increased its social services budget 29 percent over the past three years, added 70 beds to city shelters and last year found an additional $500,000 to treat high-risk substance abusers.

"Some people are on the streets because they're desperate; some people are there because that's what they choose to do," McCracken said.

A group of day laborers and panhandlers, meanwhile, said they're not going anywhere without a fight.

"Every day the cops tell us to move," said a day laborer from Guinea, who gave his name only as Bah, standing outside the Home Depot in North Austin recently. "As soon as they leave, we come back."

Smith, the panhandler with the swollen leg, warned that crime would skyrocket if the city cracked down.

"Oh, it's going to turn ugly," he said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...ro/5293501.html

OTHER CITIES

Austin is just the latest liberal-leaning city to consider, and in some cases carry out, tough measures against some of its poorest residents.

• Portland, Ore., and Berkeley, Calif., this year barred loiterers from sitting or lying on downtown sidewalks

• San Francisco is studying the so-called "sit-lie" ordinance

Local laws

• Houston: has an anti-aggressive panhandling ordinance, passed in 2003, that restricts people from soliciting near automated-teller machines, pay telephones, parking meters, parking fee collection boxes, transit facilities and fuel pumps; panhandlers are required to keep their distance if solicitations are rejected.

[Otto 83]

It should be banned here... There's barely an intersection free from someone (usually in teams hitting all corners) walking up and down at each red light.

Reach for your soda and someone thinks you're reaching for change and is heading your way..

[pedroh 21]

so that's the solution? just to tell poor people to move away from the city? oh noess they come and ask you for change.. omgz the danger... that's just hiding poverty, not eliminating poverty

[Jasman0717 9]

Good luck to him

[PlatyPius 5]

I don't really see it as a "poor people" problem. Most poor people that I know would never beg for money. Many of the "panhandlers" in Indianapolis are PROFESSIONAL panhandlers. There was a dude who stood at the exit ramp to 86th street for 5 or 6 years holding a sign "Will Work For Food - Wife and Kids Hungry". Upon further investigation, it was discovered that he had his BMW parked a block away. He claimed to make $60-$70K/year from his "profession". He isn't the only one, of course.

True, there ARE genuinely poor people asking for money in downtown Indy. Most of them are ex-patients of Central State Mental Hospital which shut down and threw all of the patients on the streets. So, we have mentally unstable people hitting you up for change AND they tend to get pissy and sometimes violent if you tell them you don't have any.

Still, I don't know where I stand on it. I agree that it is annoying as hell to constantly be asked for change. But I also agree that if we curtail their right to do so, what other ramifications would that lead to?

[NavarreMan 10]

Liberal or not, Austin ponders a ban on panhandling

Councilman wants to stop street begging and day laborers

By LISA SANDBERG

2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — John Henry Smith insists he makes an honest living begging for money at intersections in the state's capital. In a few hours, with his swollen left leg exposed, he can make $70 or $80.

It does not define what a "few" hours is but presumably it is less than 8, a normal work day. That would mean that this "poor" person is making above minimum wage and paying no taxes whatsoever. A study was done in Denver and it was estimated that your typical panhandler in Denver was clearing in excess of $80k a year, tax free. Please don't cry about the injustice being done when these people make more than I do.

[peejay 327]

It should be banned here... There's barely an intersection free from someone (usually in teams hitting all corners) walking up and down at each red light.

Reach for your soda and someone thinks you're reaching for change and is heading your way..

Same thing with the day laborers. I saw an incident at Westpark and the Southwest Freeway where the illegal day laborers hang out by the dozens. A guy in a pickup truck pulled up in the parking lot of a convenience store and 8 -10 of them raced across 3 lanes of traffic to jump into the bed of his truck. He just wanted to buy something in the store and told them to get lost.

I'm glad Houston cracked down on the aggressive panhandlers. There's nothing worst than being trapped pumping gas into your car and having some azzhole that doesn't understand the concept of "get lost" giving you a ration of sh*t because you won't pay him to "get lost".

Unfortunately the crooked pro-business Houston government refuses to crack down on the hoards of illegal laborers that line the streets in certain areas of town. They go after the street corner whores and dope dealers. Talk about a double standard. Can you say, "Institutional corruption?"

[russ 1]

It should be banned here... There's barely an intersection free from someone (usually in teams hitting all corners) walking up and down at each red light.

It is out of control here in St Pete, FL. The bigger issue is that many of the homeless want to remain living on the sidewalk in front of my house, instead of an apartment or shelter. The shelters don't allow drugs or alcohol, so they won't go there. I don't think that the situation is fair to the many people working here for minimum wage.

[SteveLaura 0]

It is out of control here in St Pete, FL. The bigger issue is that many of the homeless want to remain living on the sidewalk in front of my house, instead of an apartment or shelter. The shelters don't allow drugs or alcohol, so they won't go there. I don't think that the situation is fair to the many people working here for minimum wage.

There are many reasons why some people 'choose' to remain homeless. Mental illness is a significant factor. Some people are not ready for a clean and sober life, which is why the shelter I worked at in London allowed drinking. I later worked for a drop-in centre, also in London, that was advocating for a 'shooting gallery' to open nearby. Some people don't want the responsibility of rent, bills, etc - although, again, it is appropriate to factor in possible mental illness for these people. Most shelters are male only or women only. It doesn't allow for the fact that homeless people have relationships too and don't want to be separated. Most shelters don't allow dogs, and many of the homeless people I have worked with (notably in London, less so here) would rather choose to sleep on the street than for their dogs to be taken away. It's a complex problem, obviously, and not one that can be easily rectified by pointing at the local shelter and saying, "Move there."

[almaty 19]

i agree.. i had a guy who was homeless..lived under a birdge..he hitchhike to see me...or walk most of the time,. so i could give him his antabuse, so he did not drink..the guy was bi-polar and tole me, at least his has his dogs and they were the only ones he could relate to...i admired him, cause he went through allot to stay sober...

[peejay 327]

It should be banned here... There's barely an intersection free from someone (usually in teams hitting all corners) walking up and down at each red light.

It is out of control here in St Pete, FL. The bigger issue is that many of the homeless want to remain living on the sidewalk in front of my house, instead of an apartment or shelter. The shelters don't allow drugs or alcohol, so they won't go there. I don't think that the situation is fair to the many people working here for minimum wage.

As far as I know, the shelters in Houston are run by NGO's and many of them are run by religious organizations such as The Star of Hope shelter. They have strict rules of behavior, so a lot of homeless choose the streets. The shelters get filled up when the temperature drops though. As for me...I try to avoid the downtown area as much as I can. I recently went to jury duty downtown. I was selected and our group had to walk from the jury assembly building to the nearby criminal courts building with the sheriff deputy bailiff. We ended up having to step over guys sleeping on the sidewalk along the way. How quaint. The cops need to roust them and send them on their merry way during business hours.

My brother lives in Austin and works at night in the downtown area there running fiber optic cable for the phone company. The "scrappers" beat on the trailer door at night trying to bum cigs and money. Austin built a big city funded homeless shelter. My brother told me the cops had to raid it because the area was the biggest open air narcotics market in the city. LoL

I don't know the answer to this dilemma. Often what passes for compassion and empathy in reality just enables people to remain lifelong #### ups, #### offs, and burdens on society. There is some level of personal responsibility even for the mentally ill and substance abusers that refuse treatment.

I don't beat myself up just because I don't want this stuff in my community and my neighborhood. That is why this stuff gets pushed to certain areas of cities.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

*rubs eyes*

Are we still fighting our war on poverty?

[SteveLaura 0]

I don't know the answer to this dilemma. Often what passes for compassion and empathy in reality just enables people to remain lifelong #### ups, #### offs, and burdens on society. There is some level of personal responsibility even for the mentally ill and substance abusers that refuse treatment.

Relapse is part of the cycle of drug treatment. Some of my clients are going through the same program for the 4th time. Maybe this is the time that they'll cease to be a 'lifelong ** up'. Maybe this is the time that they will succeed, hold down a job, reconnect with their families or start a new one, contribute to society rather than be a burden. How many attempts at that do you think I should give them?

I have clients who have no insight into their mental illness. They refuse medication. As long as they are not a risk to themselves or others, there's nothing anyone can do about that. What level of personal responsibility should I expect from them, as they interact with their voices?

[peejay 327]

I don't know the answer to this dilemma. Often what passes for compassion and empathy in reality just enables people to remain lifelong #### ups, #### offs, and burdens on society. There is some level of personal responsibility even for the mentally ill and substance abusers that refuse treatment.

Relapse is part of the cycle of drug treatment. Some of my clients are going through the same program for the 4th time. Maybe this is the time that they'll cease to be a 'lifelong ** up'. Maybe this is the time that they will succeed, hold down a job, reconnect with their families or start a new one, contribute to society rather than be a burden. How many attempts at that do you think I should give them?

I have clients who have no insight into their mental illness. They refuse medication. As long as they are not a risk to themselves or others, there's nothing anyone can do about that. What level of personal responsibility should I expect from them, as they interact with their voices?

I don't know the answer to that one? I do know the VA (Veteran's Administration) apparently has its limits. I know an alcoholic that repeatedly used the VA hospital and the taxpayer's dime to fix himself up every time he drank himself to the point puking up blood. They finally told him if he won't help himself, don't come back.

Then it just becomes another indigent medical case at the city / county hospital.

This guy worked for a friend that had a paint contracting business. He hired guys like him on a job to job basis as needed. Typical story. Chronic alcoholism. Chronic jail for various crimes. In and out of "trouble" all his life. Even during his short 2 years in the peace time military. Lots of squandered chances to change.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

*rubs eyes*

Are we still fighting our war on poverty?

We're trying to bury it under a pile of money.