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What the hell?
McManus wants poor to get a license to beg
Bob Von Sternberg and David Chanen, Star Tribune
April 28, 2005
A license to beg?
If Minneapolis Police Chief William McManus gets his way, the city's panhandlers will face arrest unless they're wearing a photo ID issued by the city.
It's an idea that has been used in Dayton, Ohio, where McManus used to be chief, and a handful of other big cities as a way to curb public begging. And in some of those places, the begging badges have encountered resistance from homeless advocates.
Here's how the registration process would work: Once a year, people who plan to panhandle would register with the city, have their picture taken and be issued an ID that they would be required to display while they beg.
Anyone caught begging without a license could be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.
Said McManus, "Over all my years of policing ... one of the most common complaint I hear from merchants, business people and even people who live in neighborhoods is that of panhandling."
Inspector Rob Allen, whose precinct includes downtown, said panhandling is a big, ongoing problem there. He said he sympathizes with the problem of homelessness and the fact that panhandling is the only way some people are able to buy food. But he said he's also aware that downtown provides more jobs and much more economic opportunity and social services to the homeless than any other part of the metro area.
"Why is this just the burden of downtown Minneapolis folks?" Allen asked. "It makes people want to go shopping at boring stores and chain restaurants in the suburbs instead of the exciting stores and restaurants in downtown."
This isn't the first time Minneapolis has tried to crack down on proliferating panhandling. A little more than a year ago, a judge ruled that begging is a form of protected speech and tossed out the city's begging ordinance because it offered beggars no alternative way to express themselves.
In response, City Council members unanimously approved a new law that bans "aggressive solicitation," including intimidation, repeated soliciting, physical contact, abusive language or intentionally blocking traffic.
The license requirement would make arresting panhandlers much easier than the current ordinance does. Quite simply, anybody without a license who panhandles could be arrested.
The current ordinance allows a panhandler's arrest only after an officer observes a fair amount of behavior beyond asking for money, and the officer has to be able to articulate it, Allen said.
"If they do have a license, we would make sure they are operating within the guidelines and behaving themselves," he said. "If not, their license can get revoked. Then if they misbehave in the future, they get arrested."
Thousands of people in the Twin Cities are homeless on any given night, according to shelters and other groups that help the homeless.
A one-night survey conducted by the Wilder Research Center last October found 299 people asking for money on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. That represented about 9 percent of the homeless population that night, according to the study.
Greg Owen, the project director for the survey, wouldn't comment specifically on McManus' idea. However, he said, "You wonder how many people would do that and whether it just adds to their humiliation of being on the street."
On Saturdays, Wesley United Methodist Church on the edge of downtown serves meals to people in severe poverty. Suzanne Mades, its pastor, said panhandlers are part of a despondent population.
"Why don't we work at solving poverty and homelessness?" she said in response to the proposed licensing. "I don't know all the issues facing officers, so I don't want to bash it completely."
Homeless people have no place to go during the day, she said. They can't stay in homeless shelters, and they can't loiter or sleep outside, she said.
"Getting a license would be one more thing to face," she said.
In Cincinnati, where the most high-profile panhandling law has been in effect for two years, police issued 53 panhandling citations in 2002. Under the city's new ordinances, police cited 211 last year.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio joined a suit filed by homeless advocates against the city, arguing that the ordinances amount to an unconstitutional restriction of panhandlers' freedom of speech.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has taken no position on McManus' idea, said executive director Chuck Samuelson.
"Typically, these kinds of ordinances make us uneasy," Samuelson said. "But until I see the bill they're considering, it's difficult to say anything."
Mayor R.T. Rybak said Wednesday he's not sure whether he'll support the plan.
"It makes people want to go shopping at boring stores and chain restaurants in the suburbs instead of the exciting stores and restaurants in downtown." Oh, boo hoo, poor you.
Homeless people have no place to go during the day, she said. They can't stay in homeless shelters, and they can't loiter or sleep outside, she said. That's another thing that pisses me off - the way poor people aren't allowed to sleep in parks, etc. I mean, why don't we just kill them all? Then they wouldn't make us uncomfortable anymore, and they wouldn't be poor anymore. That'd be a perfect solution!
I feel sick...
Oh, a poll:
Instant Poll: Should the city license panhandlers?
- Yes, it's a great idea
- Not sure if it's worth the cost
- It's not practical
- Forget the license -- just crack down
- Don't know/don't care
Where's "No, they should be allowed to panhandle." or "I wish they didn't have to panhandle in the first place."?
One last rant on this topic: I'm not sure of the details, but did you know that homeless people are required to spend the last of their month's welfare on a hotel/motel? They're not allowed to save any of it. [I just did a little google search, and it seems that the reason for this is that they need to spend their money in order to stay at the poverty level, so the stupidity is the general paranoid lock-in in an attempt to keep people from abusing welfare. ARGH! Even if some people do abuse welfare, is that a good enough reason to screw everyone else over?)
A little feel-good article after that crap.
And some exploding toads, for good measure.
I registered for fall semester today. I'm taking third semester Japanese (5 credits - even if I can't take 1012 this summer, I don't care), physics 1301 (4 credits), and psychology 1001 (4 credits - not the online section, unfortunately, but at least it's a night section).
Damn, I just got a call from Yaron. Lucky's very sick (she was in the emergency room yestereday) and I need to work. THAT'S THE SECOND WEEK I'M MISSING MAS! Second episode of Paranoia Agent, third and fourth episodes of Master Keaton, Kaze no Yojimbo, and Princess Tutu, and at the end of the series, no-less. I might as well not go to the rest of the semester, things will have been speeding along to the end so fast.
McManus wants poor to get a license to beg
Bob Von Sternberg and David Chanen, Star Tribune
April 28, 2005
A license to beg?
If Minneapolis Police Chief William McManus gets his way, the city's panhandlers will face arrest unless they're wearing a photo ID issued by the city.
It's an idea that has been used in Dayton, Ohio, where McManus used to be chief, and a handful of other big cities as a way to curb public begging. And in some of those places, the begging badges have encountered resistance from homeless advocates.
Here's how the registration process would work: Once a year, people who plan to panhandle would register with the city, have their picture taken and be issued an ID that they would be required to display while they beg.
Anyone caught begging without a license could be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.
Said McManus, "Over all my years of policing ... one of the most common complaint I hear from merchants, business people and even people who live in neighborhoods is that of panhandling."
Inspector Rob Allen, whose precinct includes downtown, said panhandling is a big, ongoing problem there. He said he sympathizes with the problem of homelessness and the fact that panhandling is the only way some people are able to buy food. But he said he's also aware that downtown provides more jobs and much more economic opportunity and social services to the homeless than any other part of the metro area.
"Why is this just the burden of downtown Minneapolis folks?" Allen asked. "It makes people want to go shopping at boring stores and chain restaurants in the suburbs instead of the exciting stores and restaurants in downtown."
This isn't the first time Minneapolis has tried to crack down on proliferating panhandling. A little more than a year ago, a judge ruled that begging is a form of protected speech and tossed out the city's begging ordinance because it offered beggars no alternative way to express themselves.
In response, City Council members unanimously approved a new law that bans "aggressive solicitation," including intimidation, repeated soliciting, physical contact, abusive language or intentionally blocking traffic.
The license requirement would make arresting panhandlers much easier than the current ordinance does. Quite simply, anybody without a license who panhandles could be arrested.
The current ordinance allows a panhandler's arrest only after an officer observes a fair amount of behavior beyond asking for money, and the officer has to be able to articulate it, Allen said.
"If they do have a license, we would make sure they are operating within the guidelines and behaving themselves," he said. "If not, their license can get revoked. Then if they misbehave in the future, they get arrested."
Thousands of people in the Twin Cities are homeless on any given night, according to shelters and other groups that help the homeless.
A one-night survey conducted by the Wilder Research Center last October found 299 people asking for money on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. That represented about 9 percent of the homeless population that night, according to the study.
Greg Owen, the project director for the survey, wouldn't comment specifically on McManus' idea. However, he said, "You wonder how many people would do that and whether it just adds to their humiliation of being on the street."
On Saturdays, Wesley United Methodist Church on the edge of downtown serves meals to people in severe poverty. Suzanne Mades, its pastor, said panhandlers are part of a despondent population.
"Why don't we work at solving poverty and homelessness?" she said in response to the proposed licensing. "I don't know all the issues facing officers, so I don't want to bash it completely."
Homeless people have no place to go during the day, she said. They can't stay in homeless shelters, and they can't loiter or sleep outside, she said.
"Getting a license would be one more thing to face," she said.
In Cincinnati, where the most high-profile panhandling law has been in effect for two years, police issued 53 panhandling citations in 2002. Under the city's new ordinances, police cited 211 last year.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio joined a suit filed by homeless advocates against the city, arguing that the ordinances amount to an unconstitutional restriction of panhandlers' freedom of speech.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has taken no position on McManus' idea, said executive director Chuck Samuelson.
"Typically, these kinds of ordinances make us uneasy," Samuelson said. "But until I see the bill they're considering, it's difficult to say anything."
Mayor R.T. Rybak said Wednesday he's not sure whether he'll support the plan.
"It makes people want to go shopping at boring stores and chain restaurants in the suburbs instead of the exciting stores and restaurants in downtown." Oh, boo hoo, poor you.
Homeless people have no place to go during the day, she said. They can't stay in homeless shelters, and they can't loiter or sleep outside, she said. That's another thing that pisses me off - the way poor people aren't allowed to sleep in parks, etc. I mean, why don't we just kill them all? Then they wouldn't make us uncomfortable anymore, and they wouldn't be poor anymore. That'd be a perfect solution!
I feel sick...
Oh, a poll:
Instant Poll: Should the city license panhandlers?
- Yes, it's a great idea
- Not sure if it's worth the cost
- It's not practical
- Forget the license -- just crack down
- Don't know/don't care
Where's "No, they should be allowed to panhandle." or "I wish they didn't have to panhandle in the first place."?
One last rant on this topic: I'm not sure of the details, but did you know that homeless people are required to spend the last of their month's welfare on a hotel/motel? They're not allowed to save any of it. [I just did a little google search, and it seems that the reason for this is that they need to spend their money in order to stay at the poverty level, so the stupidity is the general paranoid lock-in in an attempt to keep people from abusing welfare. ARGH! Even if some people do abuse welfare, is that a good enough reason to screw everyone else over?)
A little feel-good article after that crap.
And some exploding toads, for good measure.
I registered for fall semester today. I'm taking third semester Japanese (5 credits - even if I can't take 1012 this summer, I don't care), physics 1301 (4 credits), and psychology 1001 (4 credits - not the online section, unfortunately, but at least it's a night section).
Damn, I just got a call from Yaron. Lucky's very sick (she was in the emergency room yestereday) and I need to work. THAT'S THE SECOND WEEK I'M MISSING MAS! Second episode of Paranoia Agent, third and fourth episodes of Master Keaton, Kaze no Yojimbo, and Princess Tutu, and at the end of the series, no-less. I might as well not go to the rest of the semester, things will have been speeding along to the end so fast.
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wtf no. Homelessness is *not* a profession (I mean, it *could* be, but usually the people who actually choose to be homeless are rich and really bored) and...whatever.
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*headdesk*
Sometimes they take things just too far, don't they?
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