Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 8, 1993 TAG: 9304080259
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COALITION ASKS PUBLIC TO SPURN PANHANDLERS
A PUBLIC AWARENESS campaign aimed at limiting handouts to beggars is an effort to "propagandize the unsuspecting public," one homeless advocate charges.
Just say no when a panhandler asks you for some pocket change, a Roanoke coalition is urging downtown shoppers and workers.
The group of business, social and government organizations on Wednesday launched a public awareness campaign aimed at whoever has felt a tinge of sympathy for a vagrant who says he needs a quarter for a cup of coffee or a hot meal.
Your money is more likely to go toward a bottle of liquor, said Larry Davidson of Downtown Roanoke Inc.
"Giving change to a panhandler only furthers their addiction to drugs or alcohol and their dependence on the well-meaning attitudes of those in society who give money to them," Davidson said.
With a slogan of "Giving change won't make a change," the group is embarking on the most organized effort in years to deal with a small but visible panhandling problem in downtown Roanoke.
More than 40 percent of downtown businesses identified aggressive panhandling as a problem for them in a survey conducted last year, said Joseph Wright, president of Downtown Roanoke Inc.
A study attributed most of the problem to about a dozen "regulars" - vagrants with criminal records who shun homeless shelters for the streets, where they solicit money not for sustenance but substance abuse.
"Panhandlers can give the truely homeless a bad name," said Frank Feather, chairman of the city manager's committee on the homeless, which joined in the coalition of 11 offices and agencies.
After receiving more complaints than usual about begging, Roanoke police late last year began to make more frequent use of a 1956 ordinance that makes it illegal to ask for money in public.
But after the American Civil Liberties Union complained that such an ordinance violates the free-speech rights of panhandlers, City Council voted to repeal the law - leaving on the books another measure that deals with aggressive panhandling.
"My office and the city Police Department will continue to pursue the individuals that cross the line from free speech to unacceptable behavior in public places," said Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell.
But Caldwell emphasized that law enforcement alone cannot solve the problem. Instead, speakers at a news conference said, it will require a public effort to stop making panhandling such a lucrative business.
The news conference was held Wednesday at Lee Plaza, a spot that on other occasions has been frequented by panhandlers.
The coalition is making coupons - good for a meal at the City Rescue Mission - available at downtown banks for pedestrians to give to beggars instead of change. (Coupons aren't required for free meals at the Rescue Mission or several other homeless shelters, however.) Advertising on city buses also will discourage handouts.
Davidson suggested that people give their money instead to community-based social service groups. "These groups can, and are, making a difference in people's lives," he said.
David Hayden, a homeless advocate who had planned to challenge the city's anti-begging ordinance with the ACLU's assistance, disputed much of what was said by the coalition.
He called the public awareness effort a "slicker" way of attempting what the ordinance had failed to do - "trying to make a problem invisible and blaming the victims."
Hayden said the efforts of Roanoke's business community will have a chilling effect on people who have no choice but to beg "because of a breakdown in the very fabric and structure of this society."
Telling people not to give beggars money is "an insult to the public at large," Hayden said. "I think people are intelligent enough to make their own decisions as to whether to give someone a quarter or not."