A Discovery Channel blogger recently visited Downtown Memphis, and surprise, surprise… he was hit up by panhandlers asking for money. In fact, he was approached by my new least favorite bum, who is going around telling people he is collecting money for St. Jude. Talk about the scum of the earth… claiming to represent a children’s charity in order to finance his next bottle. That guy makes the parking scammers look like Mahatma Gandhi by comparison.
Anyway, the Discovery Channel writer posted one of the best articles on panhandling in Memphis that I’ve seen. He makes the distinction that homelessness and panhandling are different problems, and points out that most of the homeless do not panhandle. He goes on to explain that the scammers we see down here – the people charging to park cars in metered spaces, selling copies of the Memphis Flyer, etc. – are painting the true homeless in a negative light. That’s a vital point that needs to be emphasized, that people come down here, see the BUMS running their scams, and that becomes their mental image of “the homeless” and as a result, they feel less motivated to give to organizations that help the homeless.
If you’re as sick of these bums as I am, don’t forget that we have an online forum called Handling-Panhandling where you can contribute information about the people who try to scam you. Sharing info is the best way to identify which ones are the criminals/scammers, so that the Downtown safety patrol and the police (both of whom monitor the forum) know who to watch out for.