By David Farside
E-mail: farsidian2001@yahoo.com
Web Site: www.thefarsidechronicles.com
The City of Reno is finally addressing aggressive panhandling on their city streets. It’s about time. Last week the RGJ did a story covering the concerns of the city and prospective from the beggars themselves.
According to “Wikipedia” begging is the request for something, by someone who will suffer emotional or physical harm if his request is not met. The problem is, the beggars downtown are threatening physical harm to anyone who doesn’t give them a handout.
Reno resident, Scott Quigley, was walking in the downtown casino area where he was spit on by a beggar because he refused to give him money. Quigley said, “They act like you have to give them something. It’s robbery.” He’s concerned the casino’s “ are going to lose all the tourist trade because of these guys.”
I remember years ago the RSCVA surveyed tourist in downtown Reno. In response to the questionnaire they complained about Reno’s homeless, prostitutes, beggars and dirty streets. At least they have cleaned up some of the filth on the streets.
It could be argued that in a free-market capitalist society, begging is one of only three ways to survive. Selling labor and living on income-investments are the other two. One of the arguments for the security of a socialist economy is that less people suffer the humility of begging. As an example: there are few visible signs of beggars on the public streets in Cuba. Instead, most people live secure under the same political blanket of poverty.
But not all Reno beggars live in poverty. Thomas Hogan who begs daily on the sidewalk between Fitzgerald’s and the Eldorado said he has made as much as $300 a day panhandling. That is almost four times poverty level income.
The RGJ reported that some proposals for eliminating panhandling in downtown include: more aggressive police presence on the streets. , extra jail time for repeat offenders. , posted signs asking the public not to give handouts to panhandlers and possibly, privatizing city streets and sidewalks. Mayor Bob Cashell ruled out privatizing the streets because of the threat of ACLU lawsuits, maybe Cashell should examine what other communities have done to eliminate the problem.
Although constitutionally, the supreme court has not banned begging on the streets some cities and governments have created and enforced their own ordinances prohibiting panhandling.
In Canada aggressive or abusive panhandling has been outlawed. The safe streets act was introduced in the province of Ontario in 1999. The law survived court challenges to the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms in 2001. It was upheld and approved by the Ontario court of appeal in January of 2007. British Columbia followed Ontario’s example and passed its own safe streets act in 2005.
Here in the United States, Orlando Florida passed an ordinance in 2004, requiring beggars to obtain a permit from the police department. They are not allowed to beg in the downtown core of business and they cannot solicit within 50 feet of a bank or ATM. It is also a crime if the panhandler doesn’t use the money to buy that cup of coffee he begged the money for. Even though it is an unenforceable law, that sounded like a good idea to me.
In Santa Cruz, California, beggars can only “spange” in designated areas and have to be a certain distance from the door of any business. Spanging is a form of begging specifically requesting spare change from the donor.
Begging is a tradition among religious cults. It has always been thought that a person who gives alms to a spiritual believer, gains religious credits.
The Christians are prompted to give alms to the poor by something Christ taught. When he talked about prostitutes, criminals and beggars he said, “ I am the least of these.” Meaning that giving to people despised in society was like giving to Christ himself.
Today, Catholic priests and nuns live in so-called poverty financed by alms to the church. The pope also lives on the alms he begs for in the holy city of gold chalices, the Vatican. He probably didn’t read what Christ said about being the least among us.
The Hindu spiritual seekers beg for food and shelter. Working is a materialistic distraction on the spiritual path. So, rather than work they beg, which promotes human humility and spiritual gratitude. It also gives them more time to beg.
In some Hindu sects, old men give up their material possessions and become wanderers spending their last years seeking the ascetics of enlightenment. Villagers give them food and basic necessities to gain religious merit.
Buddhism has similar beliefs. Monks and nuns live by begging in the tradition of Gautama Buddha who was a beggar. The lay people gain religious merits, similar to the Hindu and Christian followers for their donations.
Begging is one of the oldest traditions in human history. Charities have organized begging to the highest form. Religions have begged for alms since the time of Moses and the poor have panhandled ever since god created man.
Reno doesn’t have to create any new laws to eliminate panhandling or aggressive beggars on their streets. All they have to do is enforce current laws and ordinances prohibiting solicitation, loitering, extortion, vagrancy and physical assault.
But just a thought. If begging pays us $300 a day, provides free room and board or a life of papal luxury, maybe we should all join with the Buddhist, Hindus and the pope in that age-old tradition of panhandling.
Tags: aclu, alms, alms for the poor, beggars, bob cashell, buddha, eldorado, fitzgeralds, Hindu, homeless, homelessness, jesus christ, poverty, reno, spange, spangin, spare change
April 9, 2008 at 3:58 pm |
Unfortunatley, people who are begging are all lumped into one category and the actions of these beggars in Reno does not accurately reflect the population of the homeless through out our country. There are homeless folks who truely are just trying to ask for some help, some charity& compassion for some hard times.
April 19, 2008 at 2:29 pm |
Okay I have something to say here. I have three children, I work MORE then full time, I recieve NO child support and I panhandle for diapers. I hear all the lines yelled to me… “Get a Job!” (if they would ASK… they would know I have a JOB!)… “You shouldn’t have had a baby if you can’t afford it!”… (haha… I COULD afford it at the time I concieved AND at the time of birth… Things change!)… I wouldn’t be so judgemental of others… people do not know the circumstances unless they ASK! Don’t assume… you do not know who or what you’re passing on the road! Not all panhandlers are just “begging for money” because they have nothing better to do, like get a job. Some are HONEST and seeking a little help! Did you ever try to get diapers from a “donation” place… or a Church, or anyone else who “claims” they are there to help? I did, and they do not help… it’s their legal of way of panhandling with out having to stand on the corner holding a sign! Did you know that the “Red Cross” who is suppose to be there in need for people, does not help unless you’re a fire or flood victim???? Same as the Salvation Army… (but if you need food… they are proud to give you and your children STALE OUT DATED FOOD!) I do… so geee… where is all the money that I donated to them when my situation was better? I was HOMELESS with three children because people advertise that if you leave an abusive relationship, there is help out there… BULL… (you know the next word)… I was on the street with NOTHING! The “Red Cross” wouldn’t help…. not even a room to give my children shelter…BUT BUT BUT… two days later on the news, they put a family up in a hotel (a family who had money and OWNED their home), because it caught a little fire and smelled funny! Are you kidding me? And now that we’re on the topic… where is all the food people donate from the store??? The food that has good dates? Not going to the people it is suppose to that’s for sure! Further more when I had to take my children to a shelter because “there was soooo much help out there)… we were given 30 days… yet they were housing an illegal because she did not have a job and couldn’t speak english… when I said something, they kicked my children and I out and transfered her and her children to “an unknow shelter”….. HELLOOOOOO AMERICA!?
May 16, 2008 at 6:20 am |
No one enjoys panhandling and if ANY of you think so then your mistaken. I was homeless and jobless once and I panhandled because I could NOT get a job anywhere, I was told that I was *too old* (Im a middle-aged person) and under qualified for ALL the jobs I applied for. There was NO space at ANY of the shelters or missions and I panhandled to make ends meet while homeless. I also worked regularly at labor pools and I did side jobs such as gardening for a lady I met while living downtown and things like that. I NEVER enjoy panhandling and bothering people in this way but when I could NOT get a job anywhere I had to do something in put money in my pocket. I might add that BEFORE I was homeless I was a medical professional for 30 years.
August 20, 2008 at 7:04 am |
My husband, me, and my two children moved to Reno on July 1, 2008 from California thinking that this move would change our lives for the better. It is now August 19, 2008, and I have spent time and money on gas looking, applying, and interviewing for jobs that left me nowhere. I have literally applied for more than 500 jobs, interviewed for about 20 of them, followed-up, and still nowhere. Our house payment is $1100 per month not including any of the other bills. Our expenses are increasing as our income has almost completely vanished. Therefore, I panhandled one day because I had to get to California for court. I had not a penny to my name. All that I needed was $50-60 to get there and back. I stood holding a sign for two hours thinking that maybe I was walking away with less than I hoped and it turned out that people helped me with exactly what I needed to get to California and back again. I was greatful! WIth the rising gas prices, no job, and down on luck, we’ve had to do this a few times. I have taken out loans from paycheck advance places, and this, too, is only adding to our debt rather than helping it. At present, our power and water bills are about to be shutoff and our cupboards are bare with food. How is one to live like this? What other solutions are there when the need for money is now not later? Even if getting a job, which I have looked for every single day more than eight hours a day on the internet, on the street, and networking with as many people I run into daily, one still doesn’t get paid from that job for two weeks. The BILLS have to be PAID NOW! My children need to be FED FOOD NOW! Well, the long end of the story is that my husband stood out there for fifteen minutes today to earn enough to pay the bills that will be shut off this weekend if we didn’t come up with any money, and a cop pulled up to him in his car, grabbed the sign, threw it away, and told my husband that if he could take him to jail for panhandling. Luckily, the officer didn’t take him to jail, but he did state that if he catches my husband out there again, he will take him to jail. SO- now what do we do? We are stuck and out of luck. We are not out there because panhandling is a FUN thing to do. We are out there for a legitimate purpose. If one looks at the churches- they survive on donations and help from the people. Grant it- we may not be in a building, instead we are on the streets simply trying to survive asking for the same donations that a church asks for. True- the minister provides a teaching or a service to the people, and if hired, I would provide a service to the people as well! Please…. any suggestions or advice as to what we should do as we try to pursue our career at looking for a job? By the way, I am also a student of a University- in my senior year, and also have an Associates degree. It is not that I am stupid or too uneducated to get a job.