Someone doesn’t like Paul
PENTICTON — A well-known street person has been subpoenaed to court. Paul Braun, 59, has been hanging out in his regular spot on Main Street for the past six years. He was approached by the city on Tuesday and given a letter calling him to court next month.
“They say I’m an obstruction,” Braun said. “I don’t have blankets laying out. I don’t have four dogs sitting here. I don’t have piles of dog food here, you know.”
Since July, Braun has received eight tickets for causing obstruction while panhandling. Roz Campigotto, manager of The Book Shop, said although Braun sits outside the store, staff has never had an issue.
“Paul is non-confrontational, and he’s non-aggressive, and he’s very grateful of what you give him,” Campigotto said. “He is not a problem. He does not take up any room and he does not litter.”
The Book Shop’s co-owner Bruce Stevenson agrees.
“We have a lot more trouble with people coming in with their guitars and their dogs, then they do leave food in the breezeway,” Stevenson said. “There have been complaints that this (breezeway) is blocked off and Paul is always there. But when Paul leaves, these other guys show up.”
Braun said he feels targeted and doesn’t believe other homeless people in Penticton are being monitored in the same way he is.
“They come from city hall with a ticket all folded up, hand it to me, turn around and walk straight back to city hall, without going down the street to see if there’s anybody else sitting on the steps there or anywhere else.
“They keep telling me, ‘Why don’t you go over to Nanaimo Square?’ What, like it’s legal in Nanaimo Square but illegal here?”
City of Penticton CAO Peter Weeber said staff is taking a “stronger approach” on downtown panhandling, with the main concern being blocked breezeways.
“We want to work with people like Paul and make things better for everyone,” he said. “It’s not just Paul, but other folks in the breezeways downtown.”
Braun believes they want to “red zone” him from downtown. He finds it ironic that last summer a kindness meter, where citizens may donate change to help combat homelessness, was installed directly in front of where he often sits.
“They figure if they can get rid of me everybody else will go away. The problem goes away. It doesn’t,” he said.
Weeber said the court order has come because Braun has ignored his previous counts.
“It’s not that we don’t want (Paul) downtown, we don’t want him camping there all day,” Weeber said. “He’s refused to acknowledge the tickets he’s received and it seems bylaw has been issuing a ticket every second day.”
Braun said he will honour the subpoena and appears in court, Dec. 2.
“I guess it’s against the law to be hungry in Penticton," he said.