Castle Rock – In the hub city of the second-wealthiest county in the nation, the Town Council could soon put panhandlers in intersections out of business.
Tonight the council will hear the pitch to ban begging at intersections. Violators risk a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
Billie Rodgers, a retired corporate lawyer, said it can’t happen fast enough. “These people are becoming increasingly aggressive,” she said. “I’ve had them actually peck on my window to ask for money; I’m just a little old lady.”
She added: “And I have a right not to be afraid.”
The proposal has drawn a backlash – not from homeless advocates but from the town’s firefighters, who have collected more than $200,000 over the past decade during their Labor Day collection drive. If the town tosses out panhandlers, charities that collect donations at intersections must follow.
“What they’re trying to do is set an ordinance in place to be preventive” on vagrants, said Castle Rock firefighter Oren Bersagel-Briese. “But to put an outright ban on solicitations means dire consequences to our Fill the Boot campaign.”
Solicitations on sidewalks and parking lots would still be allowed under the ordinance, but not at intersections and in streets.
“Jack” collected six bucks from motorists at the Interstate 25 exit onto Founders Parkway during afternoon rush hour one day last week. He said the money would go for a bus ticket to Casper, where his mother and a job await.
“I served my country,” he said. “I would say I earned the right to ask for a little change.”
Cracking down on begging isn’t new in Douglas County. The Board of County Commissioners passed a prohibition in 2002, attaching a $100 fine for those panhandling along county roads.
But except for the occasional panhandler such as Jack, poverty and homelessness are an afterthought.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 2.1 percent of Douglas County families live below the federal poverty level, compared with 10 percent statewide and 12 percent nationally.
In 2005, the county had the second-highest median household income in the nation, $92,732 a year, according to the census.
“The homeless problem in Douglas County is nearly invisible,” said Jennifer Walker, executive director of the Women’s Crisis & Family Outreach Center in Castle Rock, who also coordinated the homeless count for the county. “You really have to look for it.”
Mayor Randy Reed said beggars, and the complaints they generate, are increasing. Many are “professional panhandlers,” people who aren’t really homeless or collect for nebulous causes.
“I would be willing to do anything we can to help the fire department recover the donations they would lose,” Reed said.
“Our intention is not to hurt the firefighters. It’s to take care of residents of the town.”
