City bets sweet petunias in its battle with beggars
Kelowna hopes containers filled with flowers will crowd panhandlers off median at busy intersection
Flower power has been enlisted by the city to try to stop begging from the median at a busy Kelowna intersection.
Big containers filled with pink petunias have been placed on the median at Harvey Avenue and Dilworth Drive.
While adding a dash of colour to the corner, city officials acknowledge the real intention of the boxes is to take away the space where beggars often stand while cadging change from motorists.
“It’s one of the busiest intersections in Kelowna, and we’re obviously very concerned about safety there,” parks services manager Blair Stewart said Monday.
“The flowers bring a bit of beauty to the corner while at the same time discouraging people from standing where they shouldn’t stand,” he said.
The big planters have been in place since the end of June, with the flowers kept low enough so as not to restrict driver sightlines. The corner of Harvey and Dilworth is currently the only intersection where such planters have been placed on the median.
“It’s a trial project this year,” Stewart said.
If the boxes have the desired effect of discouraging on-road begging, which Stewart believes they have, similar flower pots might be placed on other medians next year.
The proliferation of begging on road medians has been of concern to members of city council for some time. Signs have been put up at many corners forbidding the practice, which the city says poses risks for both beggars and drivers, but it has continued nevertheless.
“That’s not a safe situation, and I know it makes people uncomfortable,” Coun. Luke Stack said at the March 27 meeting.
At that meeting, council gave preliminary approval to a socalled Good Neighbour bylaw that, among other things, would have established a $250 fine for any motorist who gave money to someone begging on a median.
It also would have set a new fine, also of $250, for anyone who gave bottles and cans to homeless people near recycling depots.
However, in the face of public criticism, council a month later dropped the anti-panhandling measures, reverting to policies that have been in place since the late 1990s.
At the meeting in late April, council also endorsed a staff report that simply stated the city “will work with the RCMP” to address concerns around panhandling.