Panhandlers Are Feared, but Hard to Find

It’s a big city problem. But some residents and shopkeepers in Ojai are worried that it could be making a beeline for their little town.

Just ask Louise Morris about the panhandlers who frequent the Village Pastry.

“Oh my, it’s a problem,” Morris said from behind a glass counter stuffed with jelly doughnuts and chocolate eclairs. “We have quite a few of them.

“They buy a cup of coffee and they think they’re entitled to drink all day. And every once in a while, they even ask for a free . . . doughnut.”

From behind a stack of birthday cakes with thick icing, co-worker Helen Gamber chimed in:

“Yeah, and they’re only supposed to get one free refill. But we put our foot down . . . except, of course, in the late afternoon when we have extra coffee.”

Panhandlers in Ojai?

Well, in a town where cutting down an oak tree is akin to murder, criminal definitions can become . . . blurred. And a word like panhandling can mean different things to different people.

But whether fears of panhandlers invading downtown Ojai are justified or not, many in this isolated and upscale town are concerned. The City Council has heard the complaints and just last week began looking into ordinances to forbid aggressive panhandling.

You see, Ojai just isn’t the kind of place where many people go around begging for free doughnuts or another cup of joe. Bad things like that don’t happen here. It’s just not appropriate.

Sure, there have been a few homeless people over the years, but they’ve usually been familiar faces.

“We know all the homeless people here by name,” said Tanya Langkopf, a 21-year-old resident. “There are only about five of them and they’re real nice.”

After all, residents are quick to point out, this is downtown Ojai--not downtown Ventura.

“Panhandling? We don’t have that type of person making their home in Ojai,” said Eric Zacher, a nonbeliever who manages Rains, the big department store downtown. “That happens in places like Ventura. A person with that kind of standard of living just doesn’t make Ojai their home.”

But the City Council isn’t about to take any chances. The council reviewed ordinances enacted by Ventura last month that forbid aggressive panhandling, and many of its members liked what they saw. The time to act is now, they agreed.

“Rather than wait for the problem to get worse, it seems the city should be proactive,” Councilman Steve Olsen said. “We need to keep people from getting harassed on the street.”

Councilman Joe DeVito agreed.

He said he came across some panhandlers during last month’s annual tennis tournament. “There were two people, a man and a woman, that attempted to get inside the tournament without tickets,” DeVito said. They were stopped, but DeVito was left wondering what was happening to his town.

“We haven’t experienced anything like this in Ojai before. And right now we don’t have any ordinances in place. We’re very dependent on tourism up here and panhandling could have a bad effect.”

The number of panhandlers has increased since January, when Ventura cleared out the homeless encampment along the Ventura River, Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Jim Barrett said.

“Since Ventura cleaned out the river bottom, these people started migrating here,” he said. “We’ve always had a small homeless population, but now we’re starting to get more complaints. It’s just more visible than before.”

Wilbur Skeels, president of the Ojai Valley Family Shelter, can attest to the increased number of homeless people migrating up the valley.

“We probably had 40% more people in our shelters after they cleared out the river bottom,” Skeels said. “Those people spilled over everywhere, including the Ojai Valley. But I doubt those people are panhandling because they know that’s not an activity we appreciate.”

Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not easy to locate a panhandler in downtown Ojai. They’re as elusive as the “pink moment” when all of Ojai turns a shade of pink for a matter of seconds at sunset. A search of downtown on foot proved futile.

“Haven’t seen any today, sorry,” City Manager Andy Belknap said as he bought a marinated tofu sandwich at the local health food store. “But they’re around.”

Around where?

Here and there, shopkeepers insist.

“It can get real bad sometimes,” said Pat Francis, who owns Kindred Spirit, a downtown boutique. “I had one man here who said he was from Casitas Springs and out of work and he was asking for money . . . but that was several months ago. Actually, I haven’t seen much panhandling at all, to tell you the truth. Try my daughter’s store down the street. She’s had problems.”

Not recently.

“It’s not like downtown Ventura,” Kathy Francis said outside her shoe store, Kindred Soles. “It’s far more sporadic. But there’s one guy with an electric wheelchair who recharges it outside my friend’s store. She’s got an outside outlet and he just sits there and recharges. And it’s her electric bill.

“Take a walk along the arcade. That’s where the problem is.”

Panhandling is indeed a problem in the arcade, agreed Faye Chrisman, a saleswoman at Flash ‘N’ Trash, a clothing store in the arcade.

“They approach the customers as they leave, and we don’t want that happening,” Chrisman said. “Just last week I saw two girls selling watches. They tried to get me to buy one, but I said ‘No.’

“Try the bakery down the street,” she added.

Too late.

“Panhandlers? You just missed her,” said Colleen Kohnen, owner of Bill Baker’s Bakery on Ojai Avenue. “She comes around for a couple of weeks sneaking cups of coffee and then disappears again.”

Just one panhandler?

“It’s not a real problem . . . not like downtown Ventura or something.

“We did have one guy who started eating our hanging plants once. He was being real quiet, but that’s just not something you want happening in your store.

“But that was a few years ago.”