New Approach to Panhandling Aims to Mix ‘Compassion Plus Enforcement’ – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
The city of Dallas’ new approach to panhandling is said to combine compassion with enforcement, and city council members who heard about the plan this week said they were satisfied.
At the corner of Inwood Road and Stemmons Freeway on Tuesday, some drivers and beggars were not convinced it would work.
At that Tuesday afternoon intersection, there were lawyers and others down the street on every corner.
One named John declined to give his last name but said there were many reasons people were begging for money there.
“Until other problems go away, until someone does something about the other problems, you are not going to fix them,” he said.
The new plan is an attempt to address these other issues with crisis intervention teams that provide drug, alcohol, medical and psychiatric assistance, as well as jobs, food and shelter.
Panhandler James Taylor said he would welcome such help.
“I’d like to see that,” he said.
The Dallas City Council’s government committee on performance and financial management heard a briefing on the plan on Monday.
“My constituents really long to see how we are responding to this problem,” said City Councilor Gay Donnell Willis.
Committee chairman Cara Mendelsohn recalled how the last two panhandling proposals were rejected by city workers with instructions to return with something similar.
“And I think what we just heard in this presentation is exactly what we asked for. We asked for compassion and enforcement, “Mendelsohn said.” What I am seeing is a multi-pronged approach that is cross-departmental to addressing the needs of people who actually beg as well as residents who are tired of being molested and closed see “their intersections full of debris and unsafe driving conditions.”
The city will also ask people not to donate to beggars and instead donate to churches and charities.
Inwood and Stemmons driver John Burnett said he has trouble trusting charities and prefers to donate directly to those in need instead.
“I can imagine some of the people wouldn’t be out here if the charities were out here doing their job. So why should I give them my money, ”he said.
Collecting money on the street is already illegal in Dallas.
Beggars who refuse to cooperate with the city’s new alternatives are recorded in a new city database for follow-up and possible citations.
The Dallas Community Courts will take to the streets as part of the plan to handle panhandling cases locally.
The beggar named John said enforcement was not a solution.
“These are the services they will use to keep me from doing what I do to take care of myself,” he said.
In Dallas, the city is already making efforts to help homeless people find services. The special program, which is exclusively geared towards panhandling, begins in November with a six-month report on results, which is due in June 2022.
[ad_1]
