INC NEWS - clouding the issue

[RW Pickle]

I didn't start this current thread off as a panhandling issue. It is a
right-of-way solicitation issue the way I framed it. And since the
panhandlers are in the right-of-way, they came into the conversation as
did pedestrians. Then we moved inside the car to include cell phones.
These are all different issues as I see it, unless your answer to the
joke: "how long does it take a panhandler to cross the road? is 4 hours".
Then I'd suggest that you may think they are pedestrians as well, just
taking a long break in the middle of the road with a sign or bucket...

We've also talked about the distractions that face drivers in a vehicle,
but this is one that is outside the vehicle. This is a distraction that
can be removed. It only makes sense for those in the right-of-way and
those in vehicles. It's a safe thing to do. If you think this discussion
is about panhandling, then you're heading down the wrong road. It's about
anyone soliciting in the right-of-way; newspaper vendors, firemen,
panhandlers, rose peddlers, window washers, anyone. Get these folks out of
the middle and off the shoulders of the roads. And if you think these
panhandlers have substance abuse and mental issues (which is what some
keep telling us), then what kind of sense does it make to have them in the
middle of the road with cars whizzing by? It doesn't.

As I said in an earlier post, panhandling is a First Amendment right under
our constitution. You'll have little success in believing that it is going
away. Regulating where people want to stand and sell/collect along our
highways and byways is something we can change. It's just the safe thing
to do for everyone concerned. But unlike the "Durham Can You Spare A
Change" program that would let/want them to stand out there and those who
drive by to not give them anything, this right-of-way solicitation thread
I have directed my comments toward was to get everyone who stands in these
areas out of the way. Panhandlers just happen to be panhandling in the
middle of the roads, so that shoe fits them.

Here is the link to the study in Memphis I mentioned earlier. Others who
are looking at this issue, who took the time to read it, found some
information there that was new to them and gave them a different thought
process as it related to why/who/what the issues around the panhandling in
Memphis. Basically it boiled down to a job for most of those who were
doing it. It was easier than work... It seems to have been an exhaustive
survey of the subject.

http://www.downtownmemphis.com/downtownmemphis/documents/panhandling_paper.pdf+Katy+Mack+on+panhandling+in+Memphis&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&ie=UTF-8

RWP
27 Beverly