After trolling this site for almost six months and leaving a few comments, I decided that it is time to submit an article. It’s short and simple, and I don’t think it’s too controversial:
I recently read about a creative way to help the homeless and also decrease panhandlers. I’m not from Idaho Falls and don’t think your city has a huge homeless population, but I’m sure there are some-and even one person lacking shelter is too many.
In March the city of Denver, acting on a similar experiment in Baltimore, installed 36 refurbished parking meters randomly on sidewalks across downtown in an effort to reduce panhandling. Instead of forking over change directly to panhandlers people can make a point to drop spare change into the meters. The contributions are then directed to food and services to help homelessness. Over $2,000 had been raised in the first month after the parking meters were installed. A 50-cent donation helps pay for a homeless person’s public transportation. A $1.50 donation buys one meal. A $20 donation provides a homeless family with food, shelter, clothing, employment help and a case manager for one day.
What a simple and creative approach. What does everyone think about this?
Popularity: 14%
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Gato got runned over by Marcus many moons ago. Be ye daft, 2486? 
Let's have a new poll, alright, Joe?
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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a very positive suggestion. This year I have noticed a lot more panhandlers than in previous years.
Panhandling is considered a “broken-window” theory contributor to more crime. So when you support panhandling, you are actually supporting the decline of that area.
If we tried this, I think it would be important to post signs informing everyone that homeless people are helped by the parking meter fees, and that panhandling is discouraged.
In the case of the meters in Denver (I don’t know about Baltimore), the meters are specially painted and inform citizens that any extra money deposited above and beyond the parking fees will go to food and services to help the homeless.
That is a good spot.
I guess what I’m thinking of are signs being posted near where motorists approach panhandlers. Specifically, I see panhandlers at the Broadway exit ramp from I-15, and at the Wal-mart entrance roads.
If signs were posted in the places before where panhandlers usually camp out, or heck even right on the usual spots, then panhandling might be reduced.
Do we still have any parking meters in Idaho Falls? I am trying to remember the last time I saw one in Idaho Falls and I think it’s been a while. As far as the panhandling goes, with the near-freezing temperatures overnight last night I think that if I were homeless I would be trying to find a friendlier climate. I like the idea of helping people who need it. I have heard that some panhandlers are not as down on their luck as they pretend. If donations were directed toward actual food, housing or transportation expenses it would be a lot better than just handing cash to someone holding a cardboard sign.
I refuse to give money to ANY panhandler. I work too damn hard for my money to give it away to somebody who would rather beg than help themselves.
There are plenty of options out their available to them, like the soup kitchen for food and the Salvation Army or Goodwill or Desert for clothing, temp housing and job oppourtunities. The majority of these people refuse to help themselves. They’d rather beg for money than actually go out and get a job. Life is hard, get over it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something about it.
I see the same couple of people hanging out at the Broadway/Utah Walmart and the Hollywood video over off of 17th & Hitt begging for money. It’s funny how they never forget to put “God Bless” on the bottom of their little cardboard sign.
I’ve helped out in soup kitchens many a time and it’s easy to spot the ones that want everyone to feel sorry for them because they refuse to help themselves get back on their feet. I’ll be more than happy to give them a sandwich or the classifieds so you can look for a job, but they’ll never get a penny of my money.
Everyone see the “bell-ringers” standing outside before Christmas for the RedCross. Those people are the biggest theives of them all. The Red Cross makes millions of dollars with these bell ringers each year, yet only a few hundred thousand actually goes towards helping people. I would urge those of you that don’t know, to Google Red Cross and see for yourself the huge scam that is The Red Cross charity.
Educate yourselves and stop giving your hard earned money away! Sure it’s great to help people who are down on their luck, but do so responsibly.
It’s the Salvation Army that does the bell ringing at Christmas time, I know most of the bell ringers are volunteers, some are paid, but I think most of that money stays locally to help the needy.
I had been using the name Guest_007 until someone else started using it last week. Anyway it’s funny how someone can spread all that misinformation about the Salvation Army bellringers and then tell other people to educate themselves.
The Salvation Army misappropriates it’s monies as well. Most people don’t realize that the Salvation Army is actually a Calvinist Church that operates under a pseudo-militia structure. There have been many problems over the years with both the Red Cross AND the Salvation Army. Less than 20 % of all monies that are donated actually go to help people out. That’s outrageous and yet they can and do get away with it. The CEO’s of these charities make in excess of 1 million dollars a year.
Thanks but no thanks….I’ll give my time and money elsewhere!
I got cornered by one of those Salvation Army militia bands once. They threatened to tuba me to death.
I’d have to agree….don’t trust RedCross, Salvation Army or the majority of charity’s out there. Look at the Katrina fiasco. Billions of dollars were donated and only a few million was actually used to help the victims of this tradgedy.
If you want to help, then help locally at one of our shelters or soup kitchens. Habitat for Humanity is another good one to help with. But don’t bother throwing money in that little bucket at Christmas. You’d be better off throwing your money into the snake river!
It’s your own choice which charity you choose to contribute or not contribute to, if you contribute at all, but spewing misinformation should not be accepted. Here are some facts:
Red Cross:
Jack McGuire- Chief Executive Officer compensation $416,010 (FY05)
***91.5% of total budget is spent on programs and services this charity provides
There is no information on the Salvation Army since many religious organizations are exempt under the Internal Revenue Code from filing the Form 990.
The CEOs of the 5,242 largest charities in the U.S. earn an average salary (and bonuses and expense accounts) of $145,270. That accounts for 3.2% of the average organization’s spending. The highest paid CEO of a “charity” was that of the president emeritus of Boston University who earned $5,658,976. The second highest goes to the emeritus chancellor of health affairs at Duke who earned $3,938,792.
Jimthe: since you seem to be the master of fact checking, why don’t you tell everyone where those billions of dollars went from the Hurricane Katrina relief fund? I think inquiring minds would like to know.
jimtheman….do you honestly believe the CEO from ANY charity deserves 400+ thousand dollars a year? I know I don’t. Especially when I know all of that money is GIVEN to said charities to help OTHERS, not help the people who help run the charities get rich quick! but that’s just me. I learned back during the Okla City Bombing…never to give money to charities. The majority of it never gets to the people it’s supposed to help.
ps…why don’t you list the site that you’re getting your “facts” from?
$2.116 billion was raised (the most expensive single natural disaster in the organization’s history to date)
233,000 Red Cross workers were activated
The big controversy with the Red Cross regarding its actions after Hurricane Katrina was because it was accused of witholding some money in the wake of a disaster that required the immediate release of funds. Though, some volunteers accused relief workers of operating a rogue operation using donated goods and equipment. Millions of dollars missing? I don’t think so. Yes, there were huge problems with the relief effort, including fraud, but there are no stories on millions of dollars gone missing. Please post some information on this if you find it to be contrary to what I’ve found.
Every charity, governmental organization, and business must deal with fraud, theft, embezzlement, and other unsavory activities. If you do not think that 91% of an organization’s money going to the programs and services it supports is good enough, look for a charity that has a lower overhead. There are some out there.
As previously mentioned, when giving or volunteering, it’s a personal choice. Hate the Red Cross because of the Hurrican Katrina debacle or Planned Parenthood because it gives out sexual education materials. I just want to give the facts.
Your facts are severly skewed! You still aren’t listed where you’re getting your facts from. But that’s ok….I understand.
jimthemanincda,
I think you have shared a useful and timely idea. Well worth looking into. Although I don’t beleive we have parking meters downtown, maybe an orginization could look into this as a fundraiser.
Just as an aside:
I would ask all commentors to remain on the topic as originally posted. Most have valid points and it would serve the discussion board well to create new Discussion Threads for them. I encourage all to contibute articles on their own intrests.
I don’t think it matters what I think about what CEOs of charities are paid, as I’d think that most others don’t care what you think about the subject either. I just want the record set straight.
I would be happy to post the links to where I got my information. Unlike others making patently false and overly-broad claims to meet their personal feelings on the subject, I am interested in the truth. If anything I’ve posted on this thread is wrong, please post the information.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032501002_pf.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040401744.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4851428.stm
Everybody that’s been downtown, knows we don’t have parking meters down there. So your idea, although a little sketchy, won’t work anyways. I don’t see the city or any other “fund raising group” coming up with the thousands of dollars it would cost for the meters themselves, let alone the cost to put them in the ground.
We need to find alternate means to help with the panhandling problem. I also see the same few people standing outside both WalMarts. Obviously they aren’t interested in helping themselves as they’ve been out their for at least a year that I can recall. I say offer them directions to the soup kitchen or Desert (sp) location where they can get the help they need, instead of putting money into their pockets that you and I both know isn’t actually helping them to help themselves.
The website links that I found my information from are awaiting approval by the moderator.
Thanks to all that have expressed their opinion on the subject of this article. I’m not from IF and don’t claim to know if this idea would work there but I figured it’d be nice to know everyone’s thoughts on it.
To date, this experiment has only been attempted in two larger cities. Denver installed only 60 new meters—the city did not make all of their existing meters conform to this experiment.
I just approved the comment with all the source links provided (comment #17). Our spam karma system holds a comment if it contains more than one link (some of the backend goodness to keep spam out of your conversations).
There was a point raised earlier about charity CEO compensation. I don’t think $4-500k is that outrageous. The CEO types usually live in big cities to be more effective at networking and raising money, it costs more to live in those cities, and these folks could probably get much higher paying executive jobs elsewhere. No facts, just my opinion on that.
That’s a good point that there are no parking meters downtown. I don’ think there’s a big parking problem downtown, but some people keep complaining about it, so perhaps installing parking meters downtown would help the parking situation and the excess revenues could reduce the panhandling?
But then we would have downtown businesses complaining that the parking meters discourage patrons (probably right), so maybe that would not be so good.
Tough situation. I think the core problem identified here is the panhandling. How to attack the problem most directly, and with the most (reasonable) compassion?
Since IF doesn’t have parking meters, how about lock boxes installed at various locations so that those that felt so inclined could deposit money in them to be used for the homeless. A media blitz could be done so the word was out that this is what is was for. Someone would have to be responsible for emptying them everyday since someone would probably try to break into them. Possibly the police person who goes around marking tires? Or a person from the organization that the money would go to? Senior citizens might even volunteer to do this. Just a thought.
The easiest way that I can think of to stop panhandling is to create a city ordinance outlawing or restricting it somehow. I don’t know if it would be legal or not, but there might be a way to word it that would work. I also think that private businesses like Walmart should be able to restrict that activity on their premises. I still think that the best solution for those who really want to help someone is to give directly to a charity that helps people, rather than the people themselves. Or to give food or other material goods instead of cash.
Panhandling is a big problem in many cities around the country and I’d say 9 out of 10 of these people do this for a living, not because their down on their luck and need a helping hand. Every city has a place where you can go get a hot meal, warm clothes and most of the time a bed for the night, all free of charge.
I don’t think it’s a huge problem in IF yet, but I have seen the same 4-6 people panhandling around town with their little “god bless” signs wanting you to feel sorry for them. Personally I don’t. I’ve seen it all to often in cities all over this country and most of these people do this for a living. The most memorable experience I witnessed was when I was about 17-18 y/o. I have alot of family in New Jersey, right across the river from New York City. My cousins and I took a trip into the city one day to hang out. While in Times Square that day we stopped by a local pizza parlour for a bite to eat. We were sitting in a booth eating our lunch and right behind us were two panhandlers whispering to each other about all the money they had made that morning. One of them says to the other “man its a good day, I’ve already made over 380 dollars”. The other one said, “I know, I’m at just under 300 myself”. All of this BEFORE lunchtime!
From that day forward, I never gave another cent to a panhandler. They were the same way when I lived down south. You’d see them standing at the intersections dressed in ratty clothes with their litte cardboard signs. Then the next day you’d see them all cleaned up wearing new clothes and out shopping. The following day, they’d be on the street corner again, looking like they’ve been living on the streets for months.
I was a foreman for a construction company for awhile years ago, and I’ve offered to pick them up to have them work for the day. Not one panhandler ever took my offer. I’ve offered sandwhiches instead of money, and I’d end up getting excuses like, “oh I’m ok, I just ate, or I just need a few bucks to put gas in my car”. These people know what their doing and their making a good living doing it.
Those people that actually are down on their luck aren’t out their panhandling for your money. Their either at the church getting assistance to get back on their feet, or their at the soup kitchen or welfare office where they can get real help towards getting back on their feet. Most people that are down on their luck and have lost everything because of any number of problems, are too proud to stand on a street corner and beg for money. Its the drug addicts, alcoholics, and people that are just too lazy to work for a living that are the ones out their looking for a handout.
If you really want to help these people, give them directions to any number of soup kitchens in this town. There’s one at 301 S Broadway, 270 N Placer, The City of Refuge at 840 Park Ave, and a number of others at local churches around the community. There are also a number of social service, & welfare organizations that are willing to help those that want to help themselves. These soup kitchens have all this information readily available.
And if you want to do more, donate your time or money to one of these places locally, instead of giving your money to a large charity organization, where you never know where your money will end up. Our local soup kitchens are always looking for volunteers. Trust me, you’ll get a lot more satisfaction helping out this way, than just handing a panhandler a couple of bucks out of your car window or throwing some change into a bell ringers bucket.
In reference to panhandlers, do they qualify as vagrants, and if so does the city of Idaho Falls have a law against vagrancy? In the “old days” vagrants were put in jail for the night and then given a ride to the city limits. Lets give the a three strikes and your out (OUT OF THE CITY LIMITS). I know this may just pass the problem on to others, but how do you think some of these people got here? Some one put them on a bus and sent them out of their town. Just a thought.
I recall several months ago a KIDK reporter tested the panhandlers. She picked up two or three sets (like two if they were together), took them to an agency to get asssistance with money and housing and job training. The next day all or most of them were right back panhandling again. One got kinda mad that she went back to ask why there were still panhandling. It was a good report.
Keep in mind that panhandling is a factor in ‘broken window’ theory. The theory is that if we let the minor things go, like panhandling or broken windows or graffiti, then bigger crimes starts becoming commonplace because folks think nobody cares.
I want to be compassionate for the less fortunate, but I really think these panhandlers need to be removed.
I like the idea of police taking them to an agency, then if caught panhandling again getting run out of town or put in jail.
It seems like the city should be able to enact an ordinance that requires anyone who is soliciting to obtain a license or permit. That would probably stop most of the panhandlers.
That’s a good point. I cannot setup a hot dog stand on the greenbelt but these people can panhandle all day.
If anyone listened to the Bob & Tom show this morning, they were talking about this same issue. It was pretty funny. I’m not sure where these guys are based out of. (their on 94.9 in the mornings) but I don’t think their Idaho DJ’s as they were mentioning street corners and Interstate exits I wasn’t familiar with around here.
The thing is, they also noted that its a known fact that many people do this for a living and we should not EVER give these people money. You think you’re being kind and/or doing your good deed for the day, but you’re actually encouraging these losers to continue taking advantage of the general public, so they don’t have to get a REAL job! They (Bob & Tom) also noted that these people make a great living doing this and you’d be really surprised at how much money they actually bring in each day. Most people are being duped by these bums because they have dirty clothes and a cardboard sign. Stop enabling these scam artists and lets start reporting them to the authority’s and get them out of our town! They’ve become more prevelant around Idaho and Utah because their preying on the higher religious population. If you notice everyone of these people write on their signs “Please pray for me” or “God Bless”, but that’s just a ploy to make people feel sorry for them, and make everyone think these people are just down on their luck. Well their not, and most of them are making a lot more money than you and I are, because it’s all tax free.
As CR67 mentioned, try offering them a sandwhich or a job and see what they say. I bet you’ll be surprised at their reaction. Offer them directions to the nearest soup kitchen or social service office and see what happens. I’ll bet you anything they’ll be right back on that corner begging for your hard earned money the very next day.
I don’t feel sorry for these people because their taking advantage of hard working folks like you and me, and their laughing all the way to the bank while their doing it.
So as for the idea of “special parking meters”…not so much. While I’m sure the poster was only offering a sincere solution to an important problem in America, the majority of people that are truly homeless aren’t standing on street corners begging for money. There are already a number of places for them to get assistance in our town and other communities across the country. To be able to receive this help, they have to want to help themselves. I for one will not hand over my hard earned money directly to them, but will continue to do what I’ve always done. Offer my time and the occasional donation to our local food bank and/or shelter.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
We need to round them all up weekly and put them on a bus to Seattle. They LOVE the homeless there and they’ll all have a good home, lots of free meals and mild weather!
Another reason why I can’t wait to get out of Idaho Falls, heartless “Christians”.
That made absolutely no sense.
Free lunch, dinner and even breakfast…yes, breakfast….all at Doug’s house!
you really think the city of denver isnt making a profit on those so called parking meters. Hey guys next time you see a panhandler give him or her money you never know what disabilities they might have that is not visible to the naked eye. This country is getting so facist thats why im moving to amsterdam.try being epileptic in america you cant tell i have it on my face or bodily language and ssi is pretty lame way of money it just barley pays the rent dwell on that.
I agree with 2486, most homeless people do not panhandle, and many panhandlers are not homeless.
I don’t agree that the assistance programs and services available to the homeless and very poor are adequate, but I think that just results in more suffering, not more panhandling.
Shipping the problem “away” is definitely not a solution, when you think about it there really is no such place, you just give the problem more time to exacerbate before it reappears.
I have offered food, real cooked food, to homeless people and panhandlers on the streets more time than I could possibly count, and have never been turned down.