Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
City moves to curb panhandling via work
PORTLAND, Maine — Cleaning trash and landscaping public parks might not be glamorous work, but Derek Cote says it beats begging for change in a traffic median at rush hour, and he’s looking forward to his hometown giving him a chance to do it.
“As soon as I get an ID, I’ll be doing it,” Cote, 33, a panhandler in Maine’s largest city, said while holding a sign that read: “Homeless, spare a buck.”
Cote’s home of Portland is the latest city in the U.S. to try to cut down panhandling by taking people from curbside begging to municipal jobs such as cleaning walking trails and picking up litter.
The city launched the program this month and is employing panhandlers to do landscaping and clean up public areas at the minimum wage of $10.68 per hour. Cities including Albuquerque, N.M., San Jose, Calif., and Chicago have tried similar programs with varying success. Portland, a city of about 67,000, has a homeless population of a few hundred, far fewer than other cities with similar programs.
The program launched May 4 and immediately signed up four people, said Jessica Grondin, a spokeswoman for the city. The pilot program is expected to last until November, she said. “First and foremost, it’s to get people job training and employment support services so they can have good futures and long-term employment,” she said. “If the result of that is less panhandling, that’s all for the better.”
The program will cost the city $42,000 this year. Social service workers have been reaching out to panhandlers about the program and will set up signs at intersections to let them know that it’s underway. Workers will be paid via a debit card, so they will not need to cash paychecks, though the program hopes to link people with banks, Grondin said.
Some in Portland’s homeless community aren’t enthusiastic about the program. Officials are hopeful the program will get a good reputation in the community if they are able to link hundreds of people with jobs, as Albuquerque did last year.
For But for William Conley, a 57-year-old veteran who panhandles near the waterfront, not participating is a matter of pride.
“I’m not cleaning trash up,” said William Conley, 57. “I’d rather suffer and go without.”