Demand for food workers heartens

Readers might have felt some dissonance between two articles in Wednesday’s editions, one describing a burgeoning restaurant industry in Memphis that is practically begging for workers and another describing criticism of new restrictions on panhandling based on a lack of “good jobs.”

Of course it would be facile to suggest that the restaurant industry alone could solve the problems that undoubtedly drive many of the city’s panhandlers into the streets, like drug and alcohol addictions and a deficit in the kinds of life skills it takes to get and hold a job.

Still, it was encouraging to learn that demand for workers is up in an industry where wages and benefits are improving and the work is a lot more dignified than begging.

The labor shortage has prompted the Corky’s Ribs & BBQ enterprise to plan a job fair from 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Corky’s restaurant at 1740 N. Germantown Parkway in Cordova.

The event is aimed at filling 50 jobs in the chain’s restaurant, catering and frozen-food shipping operations.

And according to various sources in the industry across the city, wages are rising, paid vacations, college scholarships and other benefits are becoming more commonplace and opportunities are being created for advancement through the ranks to management positions.

Of course no one claims this work is easy.

But neither is panhandling, which gets even more difficult with the City Council’s passage of an ordinance expanding the city’s restrictions on aggressive begging in high-traffic areas and during rush hours.

Thanks to the ordinance sponsored by council member Philip Spinosa Jr., intersections with traffic signals, construction zones, bridges, interstate ramps and the like will be off limits for begging, and the city’s overall ban on panhandling will be extended to the period between 5 p.m. and 10 a.m., enhancing the safety of both parties to these transactions.

Panhandling already is prohibited in Downtown areas that are outside established zones, and there are citywide distance restrictions on panhandling near ATMs, banks, parking lots, gas stations, outdoor dining areas and other places.

A state law prohibits panhandlers from touching people without their permission, threatening them or blocking their way.

To criticism that the council spends too much time criminalizing homelessness, which may contribute somewhat to the panhandling ranks, the city can point to its work with the Hospitality Hub, which facilitates temporary work for panhandlers. Putting more money into these kinds of programs would be a worthwhile investment.

Meanwhile, the idea of a real job may hold some attraction for those who find themselves, sometimes because of circumstances not of their own making, having a rough time getting by on the streets.

At Memphis restaurants, the “Help Wanted” signs are up.