One of the most frequent complaints heard about downtown Santa Cruz is that it is being overrun with panhandlers pleading with passersby to spare them some change. At its weekly meeting yesterday, City Council voted in support of a solution to help the indigent while reducing the impact that panhandlers are having on local businesses. It voted to add eight red parking meters labeled “Imagine” to the downtown area for people to drop their change.
One of the most frequent complaints heard about downtown Santa Cruz is that it is being overrun with panhandlers pleading with passersby to spare them some change. At its weekly meeting yesterday, City Council voted in support of a solution to help the indigent while reducing the impact that panhandlers are having on local businesses. It voted to add eight red parking meters labeled “Imagine” to the downtown area for people to drop their change.
The city expects to raise about $1,700 a year from the meters—not a large sum, but enough to help pay for new state IDs and transportation vouchers to help the recipients get to jobs and rehabilitation programs. Jennifer Greene, a Downtown Association board member, says that this is preferable to having panhandlers use the money they receive to buy cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs.
The number of new meters has been limited to eight, and no panhandling will be allowed within 14 feet of them. City Council voted to support the meters as long as they were not placed to create whole city blocks where panhandling is illegal. This, says Councilmember Katherine Beiers, would violate the panhandlers’ First Amendment right to ask the public for money. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
