Posted on 08/21/2007 7:12:08 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
"You've got to have a sense of humor," says Michael Harmon, who sits in front of Ivar's on the Seattle waterfront and plays "old country classics" on his harmonica. (Karen Ducey / P-I)
Every day for months, Josh Folk would awkwardly smile as he passed panhandlers in Pioneer Square.
He felt sad to see men and women standing on corners -- some dirty, some holding signs, some vocal, some silent. But he could never bring himself to drop change into a plastic cup or a ragged hat.
Folk wondered whether his money would go toward feeding a stomach or feeding a drug addiction.
"I hate just giving money away," he said.
Folk, 24, like many Seattleites, wants to get that good feeling that comes from helping someone out. But he knows that once he slips someone a bill, he'll begin to wonder about the beggar's motives.
In January, the Metropolitan Improvement District, a branch of the Downtown Seattle Association, launched a campaign called Have a Heart -- Give Smart. The group wants to raise awareness of deception and addictions that the organization says surround panhandling.
Peggy Dreisinger, director of field operations for the campaign, said she and the panhandler researchers frequently see beggars duck into alleys to buy drugs immediately after getting a couple of bucks. They also know of beggars who aren't homeless.
Some advocates for the poor say give, and they criticize any campaign or ordinance that restricts panhandling or discourages giving. But many local charities disagree, saying that handing over spare change doesn't help anyone.
"I think (giving money) is the worst thing people can do," said Bill VanderMeer, director of the Union Gospel Mission's Men's Shelter. "It enables panhandlers. That's how they make their living and manage their addiction."
Tim Harris, executive director of the homeless advocacy newspaper Real Change, said campaigns that discourage giving directly to the beggars constitute a larger "war on poor."
"There's this thought that because people are poor that they need to be under a judgmental microscope," Harris said. "They should be able use the money however they want. We can't always follow them into alleyways."
City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck agrees: "I bristle at the growing intolerance of the poor. When we lose compassion for panhandlers, it's a form of insensitivity to the problems they face."
Seattle was among the first of about 100 cities in the country to pass an aggressive panhandling ordinance in 1987. The ordinance prohibits beggars from obstructing or physically or verbally intimidating people to get money.
Other cities have taken more extreme measures. This year Tacoma made it a misdemeanor to panhandle in certain places -- near ATMs, bus stops, building entrances and other public areas. The city also outlawed panhandling before sunrise and after sunset.
Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr said people have a constitutional right to beg on city streets. But establishing time, place and manner restrictions -- as Tacoma did -- is a way to protect free speech while combating undesirable behavior.
Karen Ducey / P-I Dalana Slaughter, safety supervisor of the ambassadors who patrol Seattle for the Give Smart campaign, speaks to two teenagers sitting on a downtown sidewalk. Panhandling "affects the economy of our city, the desirability of people to come here, for people to return," Carr said. "We have people who need help, and we're not helping them with loose change, which leads to crack or a can of beer."
The Give Smart campaign urges Seattleites to stop dropping dollars into coffee cans. Instead, it says, direct that money to a local homeless agency.
"There's this woman panhandler we've seen who has a nice Suburban with two big kennels in the back," said Dalana Slaughter, safety supervisor to the ambassadors who patrol Seattle for the Give Smart campaign. "To me, that's not homeless."
Slaughter also knows another beggar who fakes injury. "I've seen her sit in the wheelchair, I've seen her get out of the wheelchair," Slaughter said. "Her husband sits down and then he panhandles."
Dreisinger said she knows of a beggar who makes $300 a day. She also heard one panhandler boast that begging got him $26,000 a year -- tax-free.
"Seattle is a smart city and a generous city," Dreisinger said. "The campaign goes after the source of funding and redirects it to agencies that make a difference."
Steinbrueck said it is "pure speculation" to say most beggars buy drugs, drive home to a house in the suburbs or make hundreds of dollars a day.
The Metropolitan Improvement District said its statistics and allegations about panhandlers are not backed by scientific data.
Steinbrueck said he "makes judgment calls" when passing a panhandler. If the beggar is intoxicated or holding a sign bluntly stating he plans to buy drugs, Steinbrueck will pass him by. But Steinbrueck said he once saw a beggar who stood tall and struck up a friendly conversation. Steinbrueck dropped $5 into the panhandler's hat. The panhandler hugged the councilman.
But people can still be generous without giving away their money, VanderMeer said.
"Put a little baggie together for a panhandler," he said. "Fill it with food, hygiene products, toothpaste, toothbrush. But don't put money in it."
Harris gives panhandlers real work.
The 70 vendors, almost all of them currently or formerly homeless, use their own money to buy the weekly Real Change newspapers for 35 cents each. They sell the papers for $1 and keep the profit.
Most of the time, Harris said, drug and alcohol abuse stops when the vendors' self-esteem rises. "They can work, walk away with 30 to 40 dollars in their pockets and get back in control of their lives."
Folk, the young professional who works in Pioneer Square, found a way to ease his uncertainty as he passed panhandlers. Three months ago, he approached T.Y., a regular panhandler on the corner of First and Yesler.
"I told (T.Y.), 'I won't give you money, but I'll take you out to coffee,' " Folk said.
Ever since, the two have met at Starbucks every Thursday morning for a half an hour, talking about politics, weather, their families, sports and God. Both T.Y. and Folk said they look forward to the weekly reunions.
"There are a lot of stereotypes with panhandlers," said T.Y., who didn't want to give his name. "They think it's all drugs and alcohol. There are some, but it's a very small percentage."
T.Y., 54, said he never uses drugs or drinks. He uses the money he receives -- about 30 dollars a day -- to buy food and help other homeless people who he believes need the money more. He chats with dozens of people a day and said that they call him "the mayor of Pioneer Square."
Of course, Folk said, there are beggars who abuse drugs. But then there are those like T.Y., who said his mental illness ended a 30-year career as a cook.
"It's people like T.Y. that get the bad end of the deal," he said. "It's unfair."
T.Y. said one way to judge a panhandler's true motives is to be aware. The drug users and alcoholics are going to stay on the street as long as they need.
"But people like me stay on the corner all day making those connections," he said.
Folk knows panhandling is a symptom of larger issues. He knows there are beggars out there who are alcoholics. He knows some of them could get a job if they tried. But he's glad of what he did to reach out to one.
"T.Y.'s just a guy with nowhere to go," Folk said. "I can't give him much, but I can give him my time."
Drinkin’ and drugin’ ....
Panhandlers are there because they managed to piss off every family member or friend that wanted to help them at some point, and that was their choice.
One outfit in Denver, CO gets it. They take no tax $. Real help if the derelicts want it.
“real change, not spare change”
It’s a blessing to assist the poor and the sages teach that helping the unsympathetic beggar is as holy or even more so than helping the sympathetic cause. You don’t know how many people someone who is begging is supporting either...the sages also say “When G-d loves someone he sends them a beggar”...in other words, helping the beggar helps you and G-d too.........
He didn't ask for that. He asked for a beer. Give him a beer.
Liquid Crack.
They don't.
Close, feeding a campaign addiction.
Booze, crack, meth, weed and twinkies
There’s a big difference between assisting the poor and enabling an addict.
That’s kinda like saying “If he dies of exposure from living on the street, he dies. I don’t care. But I feel better because I gave”.
Leftists bristle at the idea that the poor are where they are due to their choices - the outraged retort is usually “YOU’RE SAYING THEY _CHOOSE_ TO BE POOR!!??” - missing th point entirely, and often on purpose.
Seriously, though, with all the gov’t entitlement programs available as well as charities, there’s no reason for these people to be out on the street, and no reason to give them money.
God sent Jesus and Jesus wasn’t a beggar.
And I don’t think you can’t show me a Biblican example of God sending a beggar to help anyone.
So I guess your sages think it is a good idea to give cash to someone to help them feed their habits and additctions?
Sage advice?
Use it sparingly, as a little enhances the flavor of food; a lot spoils it.
30 years at McDonald's, down the drain.
I recall a story of an old woman giving her last coin to a beggar...
John Edwards will end all panhandling. No one will ever be poor and homeless again.
I'm sorry, I refuse to support a homeless person's Twinkies habit.
My first day after moving to the SF bay area in a three block radius on Market St. I was panhandled 5 times. One guy I gave a 5 dollar bill. Later at the hotel I was staying I told about this experience to the hotel bartender. The bartender admonished me not to do that again, that some of these panhandlers can make $25k a year begging, tax free.
Anymore I will not give money but instead when the opportunity presents I will buy the panhandler food. I figure if they are that down on their luck they need to eat.
(I hope I’m getting it right) Mother Theresa, when asked how she could spend all her time with the hopeless and unfortunate, said because she sees Christ in every face.
It is true one should help in order to help, not to make yourself feel good. Helping the needy should not be about personal pride.
That said, there are a multitude of advocacy groups, shelters etc etc in every city to help the needy and homeless. Some people quite simply do not make the effort it takes to get back on their feet.
The only folks I see who are going to have a problem are the seriously mentally ill.
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