Bill: Love to ban begging
DON’T ASK Mayor de Blasio to spare any change — he wishes panhandling was against the law.
“Sometimes we see people on the street who are bluntly just panhandlers, who are actually not even homeless,” de Blasio said on his weekly WNYC appearance. “I wish that were illegal. It’s not illegal.”
The mayor was discussing panhandling as part of an answer to a caller’s question about what he described as a homeless “encampment” not far from de Blasio’s Park Slope home — or his YMCA gym, as the caller noted.
Panhandling is activity covered by the First Amendment and radio host Brian Lehrer went on to press the mayor about his comment.
“I’m saying that not as a matter of policy, I’m saying that as a human being, bluntly,” de Blasio said. “To so many people I think it’s off-putting.”
The mayor said he wished “it didn’t exist,” but knew it couldn’t be banned under the Constitution. He said for people actually homeless or in dire economic need, he’d rather address their problems more directly with services from the city.
“There are also people out there who are just begging for money and it’s not out of dire economic need and that is frustrating to me,” he said. “I know there’s no legal way to get rid of that, per se, but it is frustrating.”
Asked whether he thinks New Yorkers should give money to those on the street, de Blasio
called it a “challenge.”
“I think New Yorkers are compassionate people and we often see someone panhandling, and our better angels tell us, you know, let’s help them out,” de Blasio said.
But the better way to help, he argued, was to call 311 and connect the person on the street with other services.
“Standing on the streetcorner, you know, collecting change isn’t going to change their life,” he said.