I’ve received reader feedback via e-mail about the post I did yesterday, asking everyone to support the proposed ordinances restricting panhandling and the sale of single-serve beer Downtown. Many of you told me you e-mailed Council members, and I appreciate that. Thank you.
I am still hearing some concerns that enacting these ordinances will disperse aggressive panhandlers, and their related behaviors such as open container violations and disorderly conduct, to other parts of town. I asked Larry Bloom, the CCC safety director, about these concerns.
Larry replied that similar ordinances are in place in Seattle/Tacoma. It was found there that for such a dispersion to surrounding neighborhoods to happen, three factors all have to be present in those surrounding areas:
1) Green spaces, like parks
2) High concentrations of people
3) Availability of alcohol
Without all three of these, dispersion of panhandlers and their troublemaking behaviors has been found to be minimal.
None of the areas bordering on the no-panhandling, no-single-beer zones have all three of these factors – in particular, high concentrations of people. As one of my readers who e-mailed pointed out, panhandlers would have so few opportunities in the surrounding areas, due to lack of foot traffic, that they’d probably be better off panhandling at a mall.
Once again, if you support these ordinances I strongly encourage you to call or e-mail City Council members and let them know. The South Main Association has collected all the members’ e-mail addresses onto one page here.