Historical April–May 2006 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Panhandling is on the rise in our neighborhood. Like many urban phenomena, panhandling data are hard to come by. That’s because it takes several blocks, hours, or weeks to learn you’ve been a victim and a customary response is embarassment. Those of us who are urban dwellers in social service professions are probably the least likely to report that we’ve fallen for a well-crafted story from a passer-by!
This is my attempt to come clean.
I gave $17 to a woman who stopped me at the corner of Rosedale and Westminster.
She was lost and confused.
She told me her car (a green Neon that hadn’t had an oil change in 18 months because she couldn’t afford it) had broken down and no one would help her push it to the side of Delmar. Having just moved from Kansas City a few weeks before, she was still learning her way around St. Louis.
Her 13-year old daughter was home alone while she worked the early shift at the nursing home.
She thought she could probably walk home and she asked me if she was headed in the right direction to reach a specific address on the 3800 block of Connecticut.
She clutched her purse and looked genuinely frightened.
Her story had so much detail and sounded so plausible.
I also have a 13-year old daughter; what if my car broke down and I had no money to fix it and knew no one in town?
I called the cab company from my cell phone (how convenient that she knew the number) and requested a cab.
She must have known I wouldn’t wait the required twenty minutes for the cab to arrive.
I gave her the fare and continued a few blocks west, noticing that there was no Neon in the Church’s parking lot where she said she’d left it.
My stomach knotted.
When I turned around and returned to the corner of Delmar and Rosedale where she was to wait for the cab, she was (of course) gone. Two weeks later, the same woman approached my neighbors as they were getting into their car one night and a similar story earned her $10 before she saw me come out the front door to intervene. Development of the east loop has been a wonderful thing. Restaurants and shops are within easy walking distance and the streets are populated with neighbors, students, and window shoppers. Rosedale Avenue, in particular, is a much more travelled pedestrian thoroughfare.
While most of the foot traffic is with legitimate purpose, it is also sadly accompanied by people who approach and ask for money.
In bold new twists, some individuals have expanded from thoroughfares to residential streets and some have developed door-to-door methods. Caution is warranted, not just because you may give away your own grocery money to someone whose story has been fabricated, but also because it is not uncommon for more aggressive crime to follow.
If you “google” the phrase, you get 530,000 hits on panhandling.
While many of the top entries are how-to guides for those considering this as an occupation, just as many are responses in the form of ordinances passed by municipalities struggling with the issue.
In Baltimore, nighttime panhandling is illegal.
The same is true in Denver, where panhandling with-in 20 feet of an ATM, bus or light rail stop, or pay-telephone is illegal.
In many cities, aggressive panhandling is specifically defined and prohibited.
In our neighborhood, some unified common sense might be more powerful than any legislation.
Here are some tips: 1. Just Say No Keep walking and stay where you are visible to others.
This may be one of the only times I would recommend setting aside your progressive and humanist tendencies, but in all likelihood your cash will support a drug habit that puts that individual and the surrounding community at risk. 2. Channel Your Support to Organized Charities It feels terrible to disregard a human being, even if you suspect the story may be untrue. Remember that there is help available to those in need. Find a shelter, pantry, or support agency doing good work and write a check or volunteer your time. 3. Remember Your Responsibility to the Rest of Us Even if you have $20 to spare and you don’t care if the story is true or false, coughing up cash on the street creates a climate in which we all become easier targets for panhandling and more aggressive crime. Think of young kids with backpacks at the same intersection. What about the older gentleman at the end of the block who walks with a cane?
We are all responsible for creating a neighborhood in which safety and respect are a part of our interactions at each and every intersection.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2006.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2006_04.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
