Councilmember Jennifer Kim wants to outlaw panhandling in Austin (Tx)altogether.
Day Labor advocates...Businesses...Parents...Civil rights/civil liberties advocates...GLBT advocates...Religious leaders...Neighborhood advocates...Enviros...Non-profits...Associations...Artists...everyone!
This affects us all.
Stop fear mongering! Where are the FACTS that panhandlers impede student safety ? We already HAVE an ordinance against aggressive panhandling!
THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE CHANGES WILL EXTEND THE BAN ON SOLICITATION from downtown, 7pm-7am TO ALL OF AUSTIN -- and further ban it from certain areas, around the clock, which covers a good chunk of Austin. This DOESN'T JUST AFFECT PANHANDLERS/HOMELESS -- the proposed consequences, as currently drafted and as being discussed with Cmbr. Kim, have MUCH GREATER EFFECT. Such as:
---Pushing panhandlers further into neighborhoods
---Banning roadside solicitation -impending FREE SPEECH for EVERYONE--no non-profits/associations/ activist solicitation (depending on language and interpretation, we might be looking at "free speech zones" for demonstrations/not merely solicitations)
---Push day laborers away from schools (1000' is 3 football fields long); out of parking lots; where to go if they can't get to the "designated city center"?
---Expand and more subjectively define the aggressive solicitation ordinance -- such that "scaring" a child can be considered "aggressive." "That man is scary looking, mommy. Call 9-11." :p
---Exacerbate the desperate situations of those who can no longer petition their fellow citizens for assistance
And more importantly: the fear mongering that this generated that there are aggressive panhandlers harming our children (WITHOUT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE--no one has been ticketed at Travis HS as per the aggressive solicitation ordinance we already have...no incident documented--but what IS documented is hate crimes against the homeless) will only serve to exacerbate the problem and put our most vulnerable population at greater risk. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Hate crime goes up against them...and then it goes up against the other vulnerable populations (GLBT, especially homeless youth) -- this is what happens when you continue to reactively make laws to address the perceived problem vs. come up with innovative/outside the box solutions.
If traffic is the issue at Travis HS--and kids are at risk b/c of the immense traffic flow across 35--why blame the panhandlers for that (the usual complaint is they slow the traffic down)? Why not hire an extra crossing guard or 2 - they can monitor that panhandlers don't harass students, if need be (no one has actually claimed they do harass students--in fact, more likely is it the other way around--teenagers trying to be cool and their City leaders telling them the homeless are second class citizens by trying to outlaw them).
There are probably 100 other possible solutions out there to address this issue other than expanding laws against the vulnerable. We can figure this out together and convince our Council of the collectively-decided best solutions.
