Panhandling

[KatieDidIt]

A couple weeks ago one of them turned up at Voss and San Felipe, this is a new area for them.

I was first in line in the left turn when this guy held his sign in front of my windsheild. I tried to do the "I don't see you" routine. He started yelling and pushing on the car so I put my hand on the horn and blew it forever. He proceeding to go to the front of my car doing a dance and banging on the hood while twirling.

I couldn't go through the light (high traffic area) and my kids were in the car. I looked at the car next to me and the man was doing an "I don't see anything" routine.

I called 911. Hopefully he got dragged off the sweat the stew he was on out.

If the kids weren't in the car, and there wasn't a steady stream of traffic, I would have been tempted to give him a little tap.

[Pumapayam]

a good chunk of these people are mentaly ill or just plain worn out from life and are incapable of finding and maintaining a job. there is no where for them to go other than the corner of hilcroft and westheimer.

That is what family or friends are for, to help you get help. If you have eliminated all those from your life, you might as well rot and die, what the point in living? . . . to get your next $1 menu item and a pack of cigerettes?

[Parrothead]

I hate to get off on a rant here, but isn't standing on the corner and begging for money against the law?

Seriously, nothing takes away from the City's image more than a transient on every corner beggin for money. Let's please set aside the emotional angle associated with the individual plight of each of these persons. There is no doubt some reason why each has ended up at this stage in their lives, but that has absolutely no place in the discussion.

Either panhandling is against the law or it isn't. If it is, why is it not enforced?

Beyond the legality for a moment, it is a traffic hazard when these folks are walking up and down the lanes of busy traffic showing no concern for their safety or anyone else's. For that matter, it is unsettling when the guys approach your car and wash your windshield, only to look to you for some sort of "payment" for services. If you wave them off, you get the feeling you have personally insulted them. If they still wash and you don't pay, they often seem as though they are going to attempt to demand payment by force. The whole thing is just unseemly and unsettling.

Lastly, and while I am still up on my soapbox, what kind of lesson does it teach our young kids to encourage them to beg for money under the guise of funding a trip of some sort. Barely a weekend passes that there is not some church organization, middle school, high school, etc. with a team of kids on the corners of the busiest streets "asking" for money to help fund some sort of state championship, band trip, etc.

Talk about unsafe? Who lets their kids stand in traffic? What lesson does this teach? "The sky is the limit. You can do anything you set your mind to. Work hard to achieve success" Only, when you run short of funds, go beg on the streets.

I understand and am familiar with the counter argument. However, i will never be convinced that begging for money is acceptable.

These folks need to be removed.

No, people who give them money from their cars need to be removed. Or at least given a citation for blocking traffic. It should be a moving violation, IMHO. If they aren't getting money at intersections they will stop going there.