Panhandlers

Stand for a few minutes some mild Sunday morning at a bus stopin the Mount Vernon neighborhood, and the panhandlers converge. Then you hear a whining voice: ''Excuuuuse meeeee, sorrrrrr . . .''You can ignore the beggar or give him change. A more instructive approach is to buy him a meal and hear his story.Some panhandlers come across as glib liars, spinning spurious tales of woe. I recall one ''disabled'' beggar whose alleged disability left him looking fit and well-fed, and even allowed him to flirt with waitresses.

I was dismayed to read of Councilwoman Rikki Spector's new bill to address aggressive panhandling ("Spector bill targets 'aggressive' begging," Jan. 29). Baltimore already has statutes restricting aggressive panhandling. People are prohibited from begging on public transportation, within 10 feet of an ATM, in traffic, and in a threatening and aggressive manner. We should be exploring what we can do to help these poor folks, not creating more obstacles and court expenses. Baltimore has been down this road before.

I would like to respond to Baltimore City Councilwoman Rikki Spector's efforts to limit panhandling ("Spector bill targets 'aggressive' begging," Jan. 29). In an ideal world, we would not be subjected to these pathetically weary people that we see on street corners. Perhaps some of them do exploit our sympathies and our money. However, my religion teaches me that I will do the right thing by helping them. If they choose to use my money for drugs, alcohol, etc., that is their choice, but I will do what is right.

I would like to respond to Baltimore City Councilwoman Rikki Spector's efforts to limit panhandling ("Spector bill targets 'aggressive' begging," Jan. 29). In an ideal world, we would not be subjected to these pathetically weary people that we see on street corners. Perhaps some of them do exploit our sympathies and our money. However, my religion teaches me that I will do the right thing by helping them. If they choose to use my money for drugs, alcohol, etc., that is their choice, but I will do what is right.

Amid hisses from homeless advocates, the Baltimore City Council gave its overwhelming endorsement last night to a measure banning aggressive panhandling.The council voted 14-3, with two members abstaining, in favor of the ordinance, which was proposed by the Schmoke administration to keep residents and visitors from being harassed by panhandlers.Council President Mary Pat Clarke said the decision was difficult and emotional. She told how her mother has been harassed by panhandlers on her way to church, yet spoke of the need for shelter, jobs and drug and alcohol treatment for the homeless.

A group of panhandlers protested yesterday at City Hall and at the Baltimore Sun building, charging that statements by the mayor and a newspaper editorial unfairly portrayed the homeless community.Led by the founders of Viva House, a soup kitchen in Southwest Baltimore, the protesters tried to serve stones to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and Sun editors.The group's slogan, "We ask for bread you give us stones," was written in black ink on the bottom of the foam plates.They are upset with Mr. Schmoke's comments two weeks ago in which he urged people to give money to charities instead of to panhandlers.

Once, street corner panhandlers were seen only in the city. But in the last year, they have been become part of the suburban landscape as well, standing at busy intersections petitioning rush-hour commuters and mall shoppers.Mostly young men, they hold hand-lettered signs that read: "Homeless. Please Help. Will Work for Food. God Bless." They have appeared on Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, on Rolling Road in Catonsville, Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia and Liberty Road in Carroll County.

There's been a lot of talk in my circles lately about the relative "legitimacy" of panhandlers generally, and one in particular. Though most people I know - social workers and advocates for the poor among them - dismiss pleas for cash on the street, some people still can't make up their minds. And others remain intensely concerned (overly so, I think) that a well-meaning public is being ripped off by sad-eyed men and women with cardboard signs.So let's have all panhandlers apply for official standing through the Department of Human Resources.

I CAN TELL WHEN the kids are staring. I might be in the front seat, occupied with driving and traffic and one of Dr. Laura's radio diatribes against a middle-aged guy who lives with his mother, but without looking in the rearview mirror, I can tell when something on the side of the road has caught the kids' attention and freaked them out in a mild sort of way. They suddenly become quiet in the back seat. Maybe they see another kid in a wheelchair. Or an old man hitchhiking. Or two adults having an argument.

We can probably all agree that being a panhandler is no fun. Most of the time, people pass you by as if you're not even there. Or else they shoot you dirty looks because they think you're running some kind of scam. The scam theory is one that I never really understood. Look, I see panhandlers out there in the rain and snow and freezing cold. I see them out there when it's 95 degrees and the humidity would make a mule keel over. Would you really be out in that kind of weather if you weren't desperate?

Baltimore City Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector introduced a bill Monday that would crack down on what she deems "aggressive" panhandling. Spector's bill would make it illegal for people to solicit handouts along street shoulders, medians and in traffic. It's a problem that's been getting worse with time, the 5th District Democrat said, and her constituents frequently ask her to fix it. "It's the aggressive kind of panhandling that I've been trying to get my arms around for a long time," Spector said Monday.

Ironic that the very day that Dan Rodricks attacks Pat McDonough for his candid and truthful assessment of gang crime downtown ("Conflicting realities collide downtown," May 24), The Sun buries on page 4 the attack by 20-30 "unruly" teens at the 7-Eleven at Light and Pratt streets - the heart of the Inner Harbor in the middle of a workday! Say what you want, Mr. Rodricks, but facts are facts, and Baltimore is not typical of other cities. You want to feel secure walking around town?

Developers in some parts of northeastern Baltimore County would no longer be able to squeeze new properties onto existing lots without a new road, under a bill introduced by three County Council members Monday. The bill, set for a vote next month, would ban new "panhandle lots" in Parkville, Cub Hill and Carney, a move meant to control density. It was introduced by David Marks, a Perry Hall Republican; Cathy Bevins, a Middle River Democrat; and Todd Huff, a Lutherville Republican.

I was a passenger in a car on Thursday morning, and we stopped for a fill-up at a gas station on North Charles Street in Baltimore, a block up from North Avenue. I was on the phone while the driver purchased and pumped the gasoline. A young, male panhandler tried to make eye contact with me through the passenger's side window, but I avoided being drawn into his tractor beam. Some panhandlers appear broken and docile, some seem impatient and even angry; some have yellow heroin eyes or some other form of medicated stare.

As I write this, the thermometer indicates 17 degrees Farenheit in Baltimore, and Terry Reed's whereabouts are unknown. He's no longer at Union Memorial Hospital, where I saw him last, just before Christmas. Tuesday night, when I checked, he had not returned to his customary panhandling spot along President Street in downtown Baltimore. Perhaps he made it back to the North Avenue motel room he rents when he has enough money, or to the flophouse on Pennsylvania Avenue that charges him $50 a night.

I live at the corner where Terry Reed panhandles ("Terry Reed, that man on President Street," Dec. 21). I see him often and we've had a few conversations. Late at night he's often out in traffic seeking donations, and I've urged him on many occasions not to do this. I'm aware of Mr. Reed's story and marvel at how well he manages, lacking the limbs the rest of us take for granted. What I did not know, nor would I have guessed, is that Terry Reed needs money to feed a heroin habit.

Mike Royko is on vacation. This is a repeat of one of hi favorite columns.The elderly man on the street corner was very businesslike in his approach."May I speak to you, please?" he said in a firm voice.Without waiting for an answer, he took out a wallet and displayed two identification cards.They showed that his name was George Fallon and he lived at an address on North Dearborn.One of the cards showed him to be a member of a senior citizens' club. The other showed that he is now 69 years old."

James Smith sat outside the Maryland National Bank building on Calvert Street, holding a plastic cup and a sign that detailed his plight: burned out of his home, injured in the fire, two grandchildren killed.Every word of it was true. But it happened in 1975 -- a fact that Smith readily shared after two quarters dropped into his cup.After all, 50 cents is a sizable donation in this economy, one of the largest Smith may have seen all day. And Smith -- with his hand-lettered tale of woe -- was having a better day than most panhandlers can count on in these hard times.

Terry Reed asks me to remove the cash-filled cardboard coffee cup from the split-hook prosthetic claw that serves as his right hand. "Just put it in my coat pocket, please," he says, as breezes from the brisk traffic along President Street add some wind chill to the dropping temperature. President Street is where Terry Reed does most of his panhandling, and he's hard to miss — a thin man who stands on the solid white line that marks the left-turn lane. He wears a dark blue winter coat and a pair of pants that stop at his knees, revealing chocolate-colored prosthetic limbs below that.

We can probably all agree that being a panhandler is no fun. Most of the time, people pass you by as if you're not even there. Or else they shoot you dirty looks because they think you're running some kind of scam. The scam theory is one that I never really understood. Look, I see panhandlers out there in the rain and snow and freezing cold. I see them out there when it's 95 degrees and the humidity would make a mule keel over. Would you really be out in that kind of weather if you weren't desperate?