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City Panhandling Strategy

Edmonton's approach:

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Those hands look far too manicured to be panhandling.
 
I for one refuse to give money to panhandlers. It is such a remarkably poor allocation of resources I don't know how anybody could justify it. I gave a quarter once when I was in grade 6, and concluded it was a waste of resources. Haven't given to panhandlers since. I'd rather just pay the money in taxes and have it administered in a responsible way.
 
egotrippin said:
Y'know, I keep seeing the 'Tanks in Toronto' thread and the 'Toronto Panhandling Strategy' thread beside each other in the Toronto Issues forum... I think I've got some ideas that involve combining the two.
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Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter!
 
every november 11, there's these old guys in military uniforms standing in the entrance ways of large stores throughout the city. they ask for money and they sell opium poppies. the police don't even care! one time i bought one and tried to smoke it and little did i know it was made from plastic! since that experience, i don't give them anymore money. they'll probably spend it on bullets and bombs anyway.
 
I know I've it before, but I'll say it again, the only way to stop panhandling is to go after the supply side of the equation. Make it illegal for anyone to give money to panhandlers at the roadside. It's already illegal to panhandle at the roadside and at other locations under the SSA, so all you need to do is make it illegal to be an accessory to the SSA violations. I don't know about you, but it drives me crazy when I see a driver in front of me giving money to a roadside panhandler, since that only reinforces the panhandling. Trust me, if for four months straight Torontonians gave nothing to panhandlers, we'd quickly get a nation-wide reputation amongst such folk, and they'd move on.

Somehow most of us understand not to feed birds in the park, bears in the woods, etc., since we would be encouraging negative behaviour, but when it comes to people begging, we seem to lose our commonsense park/forest instinct.
 
I absolutely cannot understand the people who give money out their car windows. There's always the same couple of panhandlers at the Jarvis exit off the Gardiner and I am awed by how much cash they seem to pull in. If they get a dollar every five minutes, they're already doing better than the poor schmoes working in the Queen's Quay Loblaw's right next door.
 
I know I've it before, but I'll say it again, the only way to stop panhandling is to go after the supply side of the equation. Make it illegal for anyone to give money to panhandlers at the roadside. It's already illegal to panhandle at the roadside and at other locations under the SSA, so all you need to do is make it illegal to be an accessory to the SSA violations. I don't know about you, but it drives me crazy when I see a driver in front of me giving money to a roadside panhandler, since that only reinforces the panhandling. Trust me, if for four months straight Torontonians gave nothing to panhandlers, we'd quickly get a nation-wide reputation amongst such folk, and they'd move on.

Somehow most of us understand not to feed birds in the park, bears in the woods, etc., since we would be encouraging negative behaviour, but when it comes to people begging, we seem to lose our commonsense park/forest instinct.
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I remember a news article and they interviewed a panhandler and he says people come all the way from California because "the pickings are good".

He means people give money here and it shows if we stop, they will leave and the real homeless people will remain.
 
Prometheus The Supremo said:
every november 11, there's these old guys in military uniforms standing in the entrance ways of large stores throughout the city. they ask for money and they sell opium poppies. the police don't even care! one time i bought one and tried to smoke it and little did i know it was made from plastic! since that experience, i don't give them anymore money.
Click to expand...


I take it that it that you had a bad trip.
 
Hydrogen said:
I take it that it that you had a bad trip.
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I take it that it that?? sounds like you've been puffing some of the fantastic plastic yourself! ;)

remember:

smoke some 1 & have some fun!

smoke some 2 & you'll take a poo!

smoke some 3 & it'll make you go wee!

smoke some 4, only if you're a dirty whore.

smoke some 5 & feel alive!

smoke some 6 & you'll shit some bricks!

and if you don't want to go to heaven, better not smoke that 7!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code#Table_of_resin_codes
 
The most irritating panhandler is that guy who sits on the north-west corner of Yonge and St. Clair. He looks to be about 30, and in good health physically and mentally. He sits on a milk box in the middle of the fricking sidewalk sometimes, making it difficult to get by if it is busy. One time he saw me wearing my Satan-fish t-shirt and mumbled something about Jesus and whatnot to me. It took me quite a bit of effort not to tell him to fuck off. I don't know why he irritates me so much.
 
When I was a young kid my father did something that left an impression on me. We were living in Ottawa and were downtown for something and a panhandler came up to my father asking for change in order to eat. My father told him that he wouldn't give him change but that he'd go to a fast food place and buy him lunch. The other fellow rejected the lunch and continued to ask for change. My father made a few more attempts before finally giving up. Since then I've given change on the odd occasion but I have to say I'm very careful about where I think the money is going.
 
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