Letter: Panhandling problem
Editor:
Local residents have power over their purse. Simply stop enabling the panhandler by forking over your money to them. Urban architecture barriers surrounding planters or adding another arm rest to a park bench will not solve homelessness. Stashing the homeless in a park where they are not seen downtown during business time only hides the problem temporarily.
The Daily Courier in an article dated April 8 published a story titled, “What panhandlers are, aren’t allowed to do.” It boiled down to it was their First Amendment right to beg for money. You have the First Amendment right to deny the panhandler compensation for standing on the street begging for a donation. If panhandling is not a lucrative endeavor, then it’s safe to assume that the panhandler may choose another course for earning money.
In the same April 8 issue, an editorial informed us what actions Prescott City Council has up their sleeves to deal with the homeless problem in Prescott. This program I suggest will enable more homelessness.
I worked and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many decades. Some of the ideas the City Council are proposing have been tried there. The panhandling and homelessness has only worsened.
Practicing the role of an enabler will not change the behaviors of those whom you desire to help.
Patricia Gillenwater
Dewey
- Update: Missing 12-year-old boy found safe
- How Medicare can help you manage pain
- School bus with 7 children crashes into power pole, closes westbound portion of Iron Springs Road
- Why are flags at half-staff today, Dec. 7, 2019
- American Pickers to film in Arizona
- Update: 2 Ash Fork bodies found identified as married elderly couple
- Photos/Video: Prescott celebrates with Christmas parade, courthouse lighting
- New actions approved in Yavapai County's push toward $70M bond issue for jail in Prescott
- Breaking: 2 bodies found in Ash Fork
- Police seek help finding suspects in Lynx Lake area burglaries
- Road closures in Northern Arizona
- How Medicare can help you manage pain
- Plan on I-17 closure if heading to Phoenix this weekend
- Granite Mountain Hotshots centerpiece unveiled in park
- New hospital in Prescott?
- Closures, cancellations, delays for Thanksgiving storm
- Police: Impaired driver causes 5-vehicle crash on Highway 69
- Prescott mayor, two others assaulted by 73-year-old man at private event, police say
- Photo: Winter snowstorm dumps 7 to 12 inches on Prescott area
- Police release name of Prescott Valley woman who allegedly caused five-vehicle crash
More like this story
SUBMIT FEEDBACK
Click Below to: