SUNLAND-TUJUNGA : Effort Cuts Down on Panhandling

These days, panhandlers outside of convenience stores on Foothill Boulevard scatter when they see Joan Slater coming.

“They think I’m handing out religious pamphlets,” said Slater, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce, which a few months ago started a campaign against panhandlers because merchants and residents complained they were too aggressive, accosting customers even before they got out of their cars.

In October, the chamber printed up about 3,000 copies of a pamphlet listing services to help the homeless and needy, encouraging them to be distributed instead of giving spare change. That and a newly visible police presence--marked also this week with the beginning of extra foot patrols--has alleviated the problem, community leaders and police said.

“They were running up to cars before people would even park,” Slater said. “They were physically grabbing people. Some were drunk and abusive.”

The chamber now is trying to raise money to print signs for local businesses to post that read “Don’t Give Spare Change. Help Make a Real Change,” explaining that money should be given to charitable agencies rather than to panhandlers.

“By giving them money just because they are intimidating you doesn’t solve anything, it just encourages the problem,” Slater said.

“I think it’s happening,” Slater said. “I would say there is a 100% improvement in the last two months.”

Homeless advocates have differing views on the approach. Many like the idea--Los Angeles County and the United Way also distribute business cards that merchants can hand out that list where services and help are available--but some wonder about the motives and the effectiveness of handing out a card or pamphlet instead of money.

“There aren’t enough resources in the area to handle the panhandling and homeless in the San Fernando Valley,” said Cynthia Caughey, head of the Women’s Care Cottage, which helps homeless women and children. She said that often those who hand out pamphlets “typically do not support the groups in the Valley that help the homeless.”

Giving money or a pamphlet is fine, she said, but then people should get involved and “at least be part of the solution somewhere.”

But Michael Childress, head of the LA Family Housing Corp., which runs homeless shelters, said he encourages local business groups to use the cards or pamphlets.