No Quick Fix for the Problem of Panhandling

As the sprawling city of Los Angeles grapples with its growing panhandling problem, it need look no further for solutions than its own backyard: to the surfside city of Santa Monica and one of its own neighborhoods, the San Fernando Valley community of Studio City.

Civic leaders in both places say their advice to Los Angeles lawmakers is twofold. Tough laws alone won’t solve the headache of street panhandling, they say. It takes a coordinated effort among law enforcement, merchants and the general public as well.

Los Angeles city officials will soon decide whether to adopt a series of strict laws that would all but make it illegal to beg in the city, banning aggressive panhandling at bus stops, ATM machines, outdoor cafes and freeway offramps. The proposed laws are copies of ordinances in Santa Monica, an 8.2-square-mile city of 90,000, including 1,400 homeless residents.

After three years on the books, officials say, the Santa Monica laws have helped to diminish the presence of in-your-face panhandlers who had become the scourge of the beach city’s popular Third Street Promenade and pier.

But Santa Monica police stress that they use the laws more for their strong deterrent effect than as grounds for arrest, having issued just eight citations and making only eight arrests since the ordinances were enacted in 1994. Officers say they prefer to give warnings as a way to discourage homeless solicitors.

Even more effective than the laws, officials say, are several educational programs aimed at tackling the problem’s dual origins--not only the panhandlers but those who offer them money.

In a wide-ranging public service push, Santa Monica has spread the word to shoppers and others that handouts are actually harmful to the homeless and that money would be better spent at nonprofit groups that offer services to the needy.

Last year, a donation program conceived in the early 1990s by local businessmen--featuring two dolphin sculptures that are actually collection sites on the Promenade--raised $35,000 for social service programs. Now the city wants to expand the program.

“With panhandling, just arresting people doesn’t solve anything,” said Santa Monica police spokesman Sgt. Gary Gallinot. “We wanted to look at the problem in a holistic way, to educate both the homeless and the people offering them the money.

“We need both the laws and the education campaign,” he said. “One won’t work without the other. You need ordinances as an enforcement tool, but you can’t rely on them as a panacea.”

In the San Fernando Valley, Studio City residents diminished their panhandling problems without any laws to stand behind--thanks to a joint business and civic effort to discourage people from giving handouts to the homeless.

When residents complained to police and prosecutors in 1992 about homeless wandering into busy traffic lanes to solicit change, they were told there was no applicable law to stop them.

So the local residents association and chamber of commerce created the “Studio City Cares” program, which circulated storefront posters urging patrons “Don’t Give Money to Panhandlers--Help the Homeless in Better Ways.”

Residents also distributed to panhandlers pocket-sized pamphlets containing addresses and telephone numbers of nearby shelters, food pantries and other resources for the homeless.

“We had no enforcement at all to fall back on,” said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City residents association. “So we had to learn about the causes of the problem ourselves to point people in the right direction. And it worked.”

Now Los Angeles is getting the message.

City Councilwoman Laura Chick recently introduced a motion to explore what she called the “missing link”--a needed addition to laws against touching, following, swearing at or threatening people who say no to panhandlers.

The proposed Los Angeles laws take the tough Santa Monica stance even further, banning solicitation on freeway ramps and outlawing window washing at stoplights.

“We have to go after the root cause of panhandling and the behavior itself,” Chick said. “I’m not opposed to any kind of ordinance. But we also need an effective citizen education program along with the enhancement of social service resources. That’s the missing piece.”

Chick said her motion will be considered along with several suggested anti-panhandling ordinances at the Feb. 24 meeting of the city’s Public Safety Commission.

In outlining her motion, the councilwoman considered not only educational programs in Santa Monica and Studio City but also a similar campaign in Seattle.

Some observers say that the sheer size of Los Angeles as a whole distinguishes it from smaller communities like Santa Monica and Studio City, creating major obstacles to overcome in devising a working program to span so much real estate. Chick is unflinching.

“The mountain for Los Angeles to climb is to organize in a much bigger way,” Chick said. “But we still follow the same path, neighborhood by neighborhood.”

Seattle City Atty. Mark Sidron said the panhandling issue is the “tip of the iceberg” of the real homeless problem that continues to frustrate cities large and small. “There are limited resources and a mobile population with an inexhaustible supply of needs.”

Public interest advocates agree that Los Angeles is far away from providing adequate social services for its legions of homeless. Recent statistics indicate there are as many as 240,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County.

In the city, only 12,000 of the estimated 80,000 homeless residents can find temporary shelter, said Paul Freese Jr., a public advocacy lawyer.

One homeless advocate who asked not to be identified stressed that cities like Santa Monica invest considerable money in homeless programs and building permanent housing for the needy.

“So Los Angeles needs to put its money where its mouth is,” the advocate said. “What’s the sense of having a referral program if you don’t have places to refer people to?”

Meanwhile, Santa Monica plans to expand its dolphin donation program to six sculptures and other collection sites at area businesses.

“Our battle isn’t over yet,” said Phil Irwin, a Santa Monica businessman and co-chairman of the Chamber of Commerce’s homeless task force. “But we raised $35,000 through the dolphin program last year, money that’s going to outreach centers, not liquor stores.”

But even Santa Monica’s model program has not eliminated panhandlers. Take, for instance, the daily experience of Israel Solis.

Each noon hour, the McDonald’s parking lot security guard prepares for the lunchtime onslaught: not customers, exactly, but panhandlers who will soon flock for handouts, like seabirds hovering over the scenic pier nearby.

“They’re a giant headache,” said the guard. “We call the police about the panhandlers two or three times every day. It’s worse when it rains.”

As he sat on a public bench at the Promenade, “professional panhandler” Bill Janssen said he’s adjusted his techniques to avoid being cited for breaking the law.

“You have to keep your wits about you,” said the 47-year-old, homeless for 12 years. “But above all, you can’t get mad at people and lose your temper.

“The ones who pester people after they’ve been told no are the troublemakers.”

So is the Santa Monica law fair, or does it heap more hassles on the already down and out?

“Heck, you can’t legislate human behavior to the nth degree,” Janssen said. “That’s just plain cruel.”