Mayor’s panhandler plan sounds like rhetoric

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/03/2018 (2843 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayor Brian Bowman’s suggestion that surveillance cameras be used to record panhandlers is intriguing, if short on details.

He said he wants police to crack down on “aggressive” panhandlers, for their own good.

“I’m concerned about (the panhandlers’) safety. I think there’s more we can do to help. I’ve certainly heard from many Winnipeggers who feel there’s been an uptick,” he said during his state of the city address March 23.

Unfortunately, the mayor didn’t elaborate about how surveilling the panhandlers will help them.

Does he want video so city officials can identity panhandlers and rush out with food and money to help these citizens who are so destitute they are reduced to the humiliation of begging? Probably not.

It’s more likely the mayor is motivated by the longtime lobbying of business interests that believe many potential customers would rather stay in the suburbs than go downtown and encounter people who are needy and desperate.

The mayor is right about an “uptick” of panhandlers. The increase is particularly noticeable among intersection panhandlers who patrol city medians and display cardboard signs with hand-scrawled pleas such as: “Hungry & broke, please help.”

It also seems many intersection panhandlers have become more mobile in the past year or two, stepping off the median and weaving through lanes of stopped traffic, trying to meet the eyes of drivers who are determinedly staring straight ahead to avoid looking at them.

It’s possible those panhandlers are the ones whose safety worries the mayor. It’s certainly dangerous to leave the median and meander through lanes of vehicles that are ready to roar off as soon as the light turns green.

But why surveillance cameras? If the purpose of recording panhandlers is to hand out bylaw tickets, it would seem video evidence is unnecessary. A single plainclothes officer could walk around downtown and witness violations of the bylaw, no camera needed.

For more than 10 years, Winnipeg has had a bylaw banning “aggressive” panhandling. It targets panhandlers who block or threaten passersby, or follow people who refuse to give money. It lets police remove beggars who are lingering around bank machines, bus stops and the indoor walkway systems downtown.

Not surprisingly, the threat of bylaw tickets hasn’t curtailed panhandling. When a lack of money is the reason you’re begging, a fine from the city is just one more bill you can’t pay.

Another attempted solution that didn’t work was the Change for the Better program. People were asked to buy blue keys at downtown businesses and give the keys, instead of cash, to panhandlers who could exchange the keys for food and other services at service agencies.

Despite such measures, the number of panhandlers is only increasing. Why is that?

The answer is a fundamental lesson from economics 101: there’s a market of people willing to pay. Manitobans are unsurpassed in Canada for their generosity. An annual survey called the Generosity Index shows that, year after year, a greater proportion of Manitobans donate to charities than residents of any other province.

These generous givers obviously disagree with people who view panhandlers as a problem to be hidden away. They argue the way we treat panhandlers is a measure of ourselves as a community and as individuals, a challenge to our charity, an opportunity to share our good fortune with people who have less.

Their generosity could also be prompted by compassionate regard for race. It’s clear to everyone that a disproportionate number of panhandlers are Aboriginal in appearance. It’s possible the generous givers donate with an awareness of the effects that such destructive social engineering as residential schools and the ’60s Scoop have had for many Aboriginal people.

As far as the mayor’s interest in video recording panhandlers, the timing of his suggestion seems relevant, coming one day after he announced his intention to run for a second term in the municipal election on Oct. 24. The tone and content of his speech was full-on campaign mode.

It’s common for politicians seeking election to focus on public-safety issues such as crime, as opposed to significant but dull topics such as the critical decay of Winnipeg’s hidden water-supply infrastructure. Panhandlers are a highly visible safety concern to some voters who will be happy the mayor is aware and apparently has a plan, although the specifics remain unknown.

Bowman’s vision for downtown Winnipeg invests heavily in reopening Portage and Main, which could go down as his legacy achievement. It’s unlikely his vision includes panhandlers approaching vehicles idling at the intersection he reopened.

Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.