Panel Formed to Develop Strategies on Panhandling

Rather than move forward with a law banning aggressive panhandling, a Los Angeles City Council committee formed a “working group” Monday to develop a broad response to begging, including expanding social services, cracking down on solicitors who intimidate their targets and raising money to help the poor.

Public Safety Committee Chairwoman Laura Chick suggested that the group of city staff members, business leaders and advocates for the homeless design a public education program and a citywide fund-raising campaign for street people. She asked group members to examine the prospects for a voluntary donation checkoff on restaurant bills and mobile units to provide meals and other services to people on the street.

Only in the context of this multi-pronged approach should the council consider proposed ordinances that would prohibit panhandling in a host of locations and prevent people from coming within three feet of someone from whom they are seeking money or, in some cases, even asking twice, Chick said.

“I think that you can truly protect people from abusive conduct on the one hand, and simultaneously help people in need on the other,” said Councilman Joel Wachs, who proposed the ordinance that would give Los Angeles some of the strictest laws in the nation regarding panhandling. “I think we can do this and not divide ourselves [into] the haves and the have nots.”

Monday’s meeting was the first public hearing on the proposed panhandling law since Mayor Richard Riordan unveiled it last month amid much fanfare. After listening to a litany of comments for more than two hours, Chick asked the new panel and the city attorney’s office to report back in six weeks with an ordinance that places education and social service components alongside enforcement.

During the hearing, activists complained about the lack of beds available for street people--about 11,000 per night, with a homeless population estimated at 50,000 to 80,000--while business leaders expressed frustration over how aggressive panhandlers have contributed to the decline of downtown.

“The answer to panhandling does not lie in the creation of an anti-panhandling ordinance, but instead in creating a community response to the problems of homelessness,” testified Jeff Farber of L.A. Family Housing Corp.

“A closed mouth never gets fed,” Herman Jones, an activist who described himself as “recovering from homelessness,” reminded the council panel. “Either these people are going to ask someone for something, or they’re going to take it.”

But the authors of the proposed laws, including Robert Vanderet, an attorney specializing in 1st Amendment issues, insisted that “traditional begging”--standing with a sign or a hand extended--would never be outlawed. The law does create a lengthy list of places--including any line with more than three people and public parking lots, bus stops or train stations--where begging would be banned, and also prohibits begging while sitting or leaning against public property.

Some people at the hearing questioned the constitutionality of the proposed laws, noting that there are conflicting court decisions governing solicitation and speechmaking in public places.

Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there can be certain “buffer zones” separating activists from certain areas, such as abortion clinics, but said that a moving bubble--which would establish a space around a person that could not be invaded, even as he or she moved around--is not protected.

“Solicitation is at the heart of the 1st Amendment,” Carol Sobel of the American Civil Liberties Union told the council.

“If you pass an ordinance, you’re going to court,” added Mike Neely, a former homeless person who now works on outreach programs.

However, owners of several downtown businesses testified that their clientele constantly complains about aggressive panhandlers.

“There’s hundreds of people who aren’t coming downtown because they don’t feel safe,” said Robert Clinton of Clifton’s Cafeteria. “If we’re ever going to turn downtown around, we need to deal with this.”

Artist George Rollins, who said he had lived downtown for two decades, agreed.

“Building a Convention Center, building a sports arena--great ideas,” he told the council members, citing some of their recent attempts to revitalize the city’s center. “But the one thing you could do to bring people downtown is make people safe on the streets.”

Los Angeles would join dozens of other cities nationwide if it adopts an anti-panhandling law.

While some at the hearing questioned the pragmatism of using scarce law enforcement resources to arrest panhandlers--and of imposing fines of up to $500 on people who are begging for change--representatives of the Los Angeles Police Department said they envision the law more as a tool for deterring abuses.

“What I’m hearing is this is an ordinance we’re not really planning to enforce,” Chick said at one point.

“It’s self-enforcing,” said the proposal’s author, Vanderet.