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Don't walk downtown with pocket change


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#1 johnfwd

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 07:30 AM

Anyone who offices downtown and walks its streets has experienced this one time or other:  Someone, mostly males, calls to you asking for money to address some need.  Food?  Catch a bus?  I've encountered one near the Lancaster Avenue Post Office, one outside the Walgreens on Texas Street, around the Mahon federal building, City Hall, the church on Thockmorton just south of 3rd, among other sites.

 

Panhandlers are obviously a problem in every major city in our country.  Some are genuinely homeless in need of money to survive the day.   Some just want cash for alcohol or drugs.  A few are mentally ill.

 

And that the Fort Worth City Council wants to regulate their behavior (Fort Worth Business Press article below) is not news in the Metroplex.  The news media often reports on Dallas's homeless or panhandling problem.

 

http://www.fortworth...cbc14b99de.html

 

​I, for one, have mixed feelings about panhandlers.  Most times they're an annoyance to briefly encounter.  Sometimes I am briefly fearful of my life or limb if I have to say no.  Other times I feel guilty to have to say no to a person who appears to genuinely have a financial problem.  But I never give out money.  After all, aren't the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and the East Lancaster missions there to help these people with food, lodging, and maybe some job placement guidance?



#2 renamerusk

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 02:22 PM

Panhandlers are obviously a problem in every major city in our country.  Some are genuinely homeless in need of money to survive the day.   Some just want cash for alcohol or drugs.  A few are mentally ill....​I, for one, have mixed feelings about panhandlers.....

 

 I haven't exactly thought this idea through completely, but what if there were donations boxes at the core Downtown intersections where money could be deposited to help the genuinely homeless and needed.  In the area where these donation boxes are placed, panhandling would be prohibited and strenuously enforced. 



#3 JBB

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 02:40 PM

The FWBP article above is a little outdated.  The council reversed course and did not make it illegal to give to panhandlers, but they did strengthen the ability to enforce existing ordinances concerning panhandling.

 

One problem area where I've noticed an increase in panhandling is on the freeway ramps around I-35/I-30, in particular on the connector from 30 east to 35 north where they take advantage of the almost constantly stop and go traffic during daylight hours.






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