Columbus panhandlers, who are already suffering from a bitter, stormy winter, are facing a new problem. Fliers about how to deal with beggars are appearing in city hotels, office buildings and shops; the main message being not to give money to panhandlers. Along with listing ways to deny beggars, the fliers also give alternative ways to help beggars, such as buying them food or coffee or donating money to a social-service agency.
The fliers were printed and distributed by the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District, which is a 25-block area in the center of downtown.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Cleve Ricksecker, director of the district, said panhandling “makes people not want to come Downtown … We have to make the sidewalks feel hospitable and safe.”
As if jobless, homeless people did not have enough problems between a struggling economy and the harsh, life-threatening cold of winter, an organization has put its purpose of enhancing city prettiness above the meager source of income panhandlers subsist on.
The flier suggests not giving money to beggars, because district leaders believe they use donations to finance drug and alcohol habits. The image of the drunk, homeless man is a Hollywood one — in reality, both alcoholism and drug addicition are expensive habits, and are difficult to maintain solely through the money made in panhandling.
Beggars’ purchasing problem, if any, is using all their money for coffee — which, while helping fight low temperatures, contributes further to their malnutrition. Any homeless person who has a drug or alcohol problem is not a threat to sidewalk passers-by, because they aren’t out panhandling in plain view — they are most likely stealing, a much more lucrative means of unemployment.
The suggestion to buy food or coffee for a panhandler is a good one — after all, that is ideally what a person’s donation should go to. But donating money to social-service agencies is a bad idea, for the reasons that many panhandlers say these services do little for them, and small-scale donations are more beneficial to the individual and can’t be utilized as well by an organization.
Beggars are a trademark of any major city, and their number in Columbus is minute compared to those of other major cities. It is a show of ignorance by any person who says beggars make people not want to come into the downtown areas of a city — very few people actually plan their walking routes as to avoid a panhandler because they don’t feel safe.
Some of these beggars may be lazy — but they are the exception, not the rule. Disregard the fliers, and continue to give to the panhandlers. Giving to the poor is a charitable and noble act, and has been practiced for several centuries. Help Columbus keep the streets “hospitable” by helping those down on their luck survive until they can turn things around.
