Call for more compassion for beggars
Tony from Turangi knows how to hustle a quick buck.
He makes up to $120 a day and is one of a small but growing number of beggars appearing on the streets of Petone.
Although there have been a number of complaints about beggars, they are an elusive bunch and it takes seven or eight attempts to find Tony.
His first response was to refuse to talk before suggesting that could change for $20.
‘‘I am not a beggar but I have been hustling for money for about four years.’’
The 54 year-old had worked in a number of jobs, including fencing and gardening, and enjoys volunteering for agencies like the Salvation Army.
He does not drink alcohol and his message to anyone who might judge him, or other beggars, is that they all had a back story and it was unfair to view beggars negatively.
He tried to avoid trouble and found that if he was polite, most people were polite to him.
As well as beggars, car window cleaners have also appeared recently.
Robert from Wellington has a spot at the Buick St Fountain, where he also helps people fill their containers with untreated water. After regularly being fined for cleaning car windows in Palmerston North, the 32 year-old spent time in jail to wipe his fines.
His dream is driving a truck or delivering pizzas but he faces a number of hurdles. Without a fixed address or a telephone, it was impossible to find work.
He knows the other beggars and rejected any suggestion that it was an easy way to make a living. ‘‘The struggle is real out here man. It is real hard.’’
The solution for people like him was to find work and to not feel they were being judged, he said.
One person who agreed with him was Annabel White from Trade Aid. ‘‘I made one fella a cup of tea and I made a new sign for him because he could not spell.’’
Every beggar had a story and she believed in treating them with compassion, she said.
The beggars have three favourite spots including Mr Bun, where owner Ana Sor said they did not cause any problems.
A core group of six take turns in front of her shop. She believed they had a home to go to and were making a good living. ‘‘They come in and swap big notes for small coins. Sometimes they make $350 a day.’’
She had offered them work but they preferred their current lifestyle.
Hutt City safety manager Hine O’Sullivan said the solution was to sit down with every beggar to find out their story. There was often no easy solution but with cases like Robert, it was getting all the social agencies to work together to get him on his feet and into a driving job.
The council had no bylaws against begging or car window cleaning and she hoped that would not change. Fining people who were often already victims was not a solution. ‘‘We should not judge people. We should have more compassion and empathy for these people.’’
Previously she worked for the Wellington City Council, where she got to know a lot of the beggars. She predicted they would increasingly look to Petone as the suburb continued to grow. The local economy was booming and she said beggars ‘‘go where the money is’’.
Sergeant Kylee Cusin said there were a small number of beggars in Petone but they didn’t cause many problems. ‘‘They pretty much keep to themselves.’’
‘‘I am not a beggar but I have been hustling for money for about four years.’’
Tony