Try walking down Denver’s 16th Street Mall without being panhandled. Most days it’s impossible, and the problem is only getting worse.
Denver has become a panhandler’s paradise, with beggars collecting some $4.6 million a year, according to a new survey conducted by the city and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District. And it’s not just a downtown problem, it’s citywide, with “Will work for food” signs popping up along every busy city intersection.
The surest way to curb Denver’s panhandling problem is to cut off the money source, according to city and business officials who commissioned the survey. If Coloradans and visitors refrained from giving handouts, panhandlers would give up the trade, they figure.
We certainly hope so. But that should be only part of the equation. A little tough love could go a long way, as well.
City and downtown business groups plan to spend the next three months developing a plan to convince Coloradans that giving to panhandlers is not an effective solution to the homeless problem. (Much of the money goes to feed substance-abuse problems.) But they also need to create a greater role for Denver’s police department, which needs to be fully engaged in this issue.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s 10- year plan to end homelessness wants to move beyond ticketing people for bad behaviors – fines they may not pay anyway – and push them toward programs where they can get help. The plan would cost about $10 million a year, so officials want that $4.6 million already going to panhandlers redirected toward the program.
It’s a smart move, but shouldn’t preclude police from enforcing Denver’s existing ban on aggressive panhandling or other laws that could prevent begging.
For example, it’s now illegal to panhandle near transit stops. Every corner of the 16th Street Mall where the RTD shuttle bus stops qualifies as a transit stop. But the law only restricts panhandling within 20 feet of the stop, a rather small area.
A simple solution exists for that and every other excuse for not cracking down on panhandling: If the laws need to be changed, change them.
Not only is panhandling a threat to downtown vitality, it’s an unfortunate and dangerous way to live. Pushing people off the mall isn’t a long-term solution, of course, unless it’s backed up by services such as detox or mental health visits, which the city is planning.
But we think a little tough love will prove its value, too.
