Minneapolis Addresses Panhandling

In Minneapolis they are cracking down on panhandling. Recently the city council made its begging ordinance stricter.

The limitations on aggressive panhandling are a positive thing. I'm not sure that I agree on what they consider aggressive, though. With the new changes, people are no longer allowed to beg at night or in groups of more than two. I don't consider nighttime begging or people begging in groups to be aggressive, as long as they don't follow you. Being followed by a beggar should be considered aggressive. Those that start washing your window at a stoplight should be considered aggressive, because they are touching your personal property without your permission.

One concern is that beggars hurt tourism. As a child I came to Minneapolis to visit relatives. This girl from a rural small town always felt like being asked for money was part of being in the city.

Now I live in a bedroom community outside the city, and still enjoy jaunts downtown. While there, I fully expect to be asked for money. Whether or not they get any depends on my mood that day.

One beautiful spring evening I was walking to Orchestra Hall and was stopped by a panhandler in a wheelchair. I gave him a dollar, or what I thought was a dollar. Once we were out of earshot my companion commented that for all we knew he loaded that wheelchair up in a car and drove home to a nice house every night. I chuckled, then realized I had accidentally handed him a twenty rather than a dollar bill.

After realizing my mistake I kicked myself for it and went about my way. I hope he was legitimate. Maybe he really didn't need it. Maybe he really did need it - for a bottle of liquor. Or maybe my mistake helped get him through the week. In a broader sense, we would all rather our donation go to food and not whiskey or crack, but I would argue that anyone with an addiction that requires them to beg is certainly worse off than I. The decision to give is up to me.

I would sooner see law enforcement crack down on more important things, like reducing the number of shootings in the city. The threat of being asked for money doesn't rattle me; I either give them something or keep walking and ignore them. I feel it's part of being in the city. Come out to my area and you might end up on the highway going 20 miles an hour behind a tractor. That's part of being in the country.

While aggressive and criminal activities shouldn't be allowed, there is no need to sanitize Minneapolis. If the worst thing that happens to you all day is that someone who probably has much less than you asks you for a dollar, you're pretty well off.

Source:
www.startribune.com/462/story/1248151.html