bravo sf. , brilliant idea....
love they neighbor

Buzz up!S.F. parking meters retooled to aid homeless
Cecilia M. Vega,Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writers

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

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(05-12) 19:45 PDT -- Rather than tossing loose change into a panhandler's empty cup, San Francisco officials want you instead to slide your spare quarters and nickels into a homeless meter.

The city's latest attempt to deal with one of its most vexing problems will be announced in coming weeks in the form of 10 old parking meters installed in some of the most heavily panhandled areas, The Chronicle has learned.

Money deposited in the meters would go directly to charities that help the homeless. The goal, officials say, is to reduce panhandling and to educate tourists and residents about the problem of giving money directly to people on the streets.

"The reason people are panhandling is because there's a market for panhandling," Mayor Gavin Newsom said Monday. "We're not helping these individuals by handing out cash. If there was strong evidence to suggest this helped people turn their lives around, we would not be using this approach."

The bright orange meters, donated by the city's Department of Parking and Traffic, will be scattered along places like Market Street and Van Ness Avenue that typically attract a steady stream of panhandlers every day. The meters will be accompanied by signs telling people how they can give money to help the homeless.

The slogan for the program and accompanying advertising campaign will be plastered on the meters: "Be a part of change. Don't give change."

The plan is to have the Department of Parking and Traffic employees who collect money from parking meters also collect money from the homeless meters. The money would be divided among local nonprofit organizations, Newsom said.

A handful of cities around the country, including Denver and Baltimore, have installed homeless meters in recent years. And while the programs haven't necessarily been lucrative, some cities have seen less panhandling as a result.

Newsom and his homelessness czar, Dariush Kayhan, say it's worth a try.

"This is not going to solve poverty," Kayhan said. "But it is another strategy to see if we can save lives out there."

Local advocates for the homeless, however, laughed - and gasped - when told about the idea Monday.

Sister Bernie Galvin, executive director of Religious Witness with Homeless People, called the meter idea "utterly ridiculous." She said it was based on a stereotype that all panhandlers use every nickel and dime to buy drugs and alcohol.

"Forget the children, forget the mothers who are struggling to raise their family homeless or in inadequate housing," she said. "Will the city never give up on trying to find ways to make the lives of homeless people harder?"

Homeless advocate and community organizer James Chionsini liked the idea at first - until he realized you don't actually get parking for your change. Then he said it sounded like a political stunt that would have very little impact on funding homelessness programs or stopping panhandlers.

"I'd rather give it to a panhandler than put it in a meter personally," he said. "At least if you give it to them personally, you're going to get a smile." Newsom contends that most of the panhandlers in San Francisco aren't actually homeless but are supplementing government assistance with the money people give them.

Over the years, city leaders have struggled to curb the panhandling problem, which is largely centered around tourist areas and downtown. City officials estimate that about 150 panhandlers are on city streets on any given day.

In 2003, the San Francisco Hotel Council funded a $65,000 billboard campaign that linked panhandling to drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.

One ad read, "Today we rode a cable car, visited Alcatraz and supported a drug habit."

Homeless advocates said the campaign was mean-spirited, and then-state Sen. John Burton took out ads of his own reading, "Jesus gave money to poor people on the streets of Galilee."

Also in 2003, then-Supervisor Newsom authored Proposition M, a voter-approved measure that banned aggressive panhandling in public places.

Paul Boden, director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project that deals with homelessness issues, recalled attempts under previous mayors to place jars by cash registers in businesses and sell coupons for services that could then be handed over to panhandlers. He said the meters idea was especially "asinine" and San Francisco's all-time second-worst idea to curb panhandling.

The worst, he said, was a failed proposal during Willie Brown's administration to equip homeless people with credit-card machines like those used for retail purchases. People could swipe their cards and choose how much to donate, with 80 percent going to homeless programs and 20 percent to the individual panhandlers.

"It's not fair for the government to create this incredible level of poverty and then turn around to the rest of the community and say, 'Harden your hearts and give the money to us,' " Boden said. "Human beings when they see other human beings are going to give a little change, and that's good."

But Newsom asked doubters to keep an open mind. He said aggressive panhandling is by far the top complaint he hears from people.

"I ask them to give us a chance," he said. "If it doesn't work, show me the evidence, and then we'll abandon it."

Just curious, if welfare is so easy to get by illegal aliens, how come we have approximately 3 1/2 million homeless?

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis M:
Just curious, if welfare is so easy to get by illegal aliens, how come we have approximately 3 1/2 million homeless?

I believe that a good portion of those homeless are mentally ill.

I BELEIVE THEY ARE MENTALLY ILL TOO (AND DRUG ADDICTS)...

WELL THAT'S ANOTHER STORY...

AND VETERANS'S!!! Veterans who served this country and the government abandoned them after they did.You all seem to forget they are all Americans in need! Wheteher it's a junkie or a mentally ill person, they are all in need.I don't see any illegals sleeping on the streets, because their families or friends are taking care of them.

quote:

Originally posted by norie:
AND VETERANS'S!!! Veterans who served this country and the government abandoned them after they did.You all seem to forget they are all Americans in need! Wheteher it's a junkie or a mentally ill person, they are all in need.I don't see any illegals sleeping on the streets, because their families or friends are taking care of them.

LET'S NOT FORGET HALF THE ILLEGALS ARE IN JAIL...OFF THE STREETS...........LOL

Hey Concourse, you need to put another quarter in the meter.

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie:
Hey Concourse, you need to put another quarter in the meter.

BE GOOD IF THE CITY ISSUES TICKETS FOR PEOPLE WHO JUST PASS UP THE METER AND DON'T DONATE...

YOU'RE TIMES UP CHOLLY CHALUPA..HAHAHA THAT SOUNDS GOOD..CHOLLY CHALUPA...

YOU CHIERO TACO BELL "I'LL HAVE A CHOLLY CHALUPA SUPREME W/ A COKE".....

LMAO



BY THE WAY, DID YOU HAVE IT. GRAPES BANNED OR SOMETHING? SHE CAN'T POST ANYMORE??? DID YOU ""RAT"" ON HER?

A recent publication of the Better Business Bureau reported, "Many of those living in shelters or on the street are no different from those with a place to live .... Being on the street is often something out of their control." In a New York Times op-ed piece, Rep. Charles Schumer wrote that "the slightest mistep or misfortune--a temporary layoff, a large medical bill, a divorce--could send [a low-income] family onto the streets. Indeed that's exactly what's been happening." The concrete examples of the homeless Schumer cited are a working mother of eight whose eldest is an honor student, and a 63-year-old woman forced to retire from her job as a waitress because of arthritis. In another Times op-ed piece entitled "The Homeless: Victims of Prejudice," two Ivy League law students said that the homeless people they met during a summer of intern work included a Broadway playwright, a highly decorated World War II veteran, and an ex-professional basketball player. Not to mention "pregnant women who lost the race to stay one step ahead of the housing marshal, students trying to study in noisy shelters, and average families working diligently to save enough money for an apartment."

IF SOMETHING DON'T GIVE SOON WE'LL SEE ALOT MORE HOMELESS

AND VETERANS'S!!! Veterans who served this country and the government abandoned them after they did.You all seem to forget they are all Americans in need! Wheteher it's a junkie or a mentally ill person, they are all in need.I don't see any illegals sleeping on the streets, because their families or friends are taking care of them.
***********************************************

I let the illegals cut my grass out on the Island. When the junkie vets learn how to cut grass, they can come to my house, too, and pick up a couple of bucks. I am looking for someone to wash my cars if any of them has a clean rag. Norie, if you can raise the money for a train ticket out here, I can put your to work too.

Sorry Mike I stopped going to the zoo a long time ago!

Boulder is a popular place for the homeless. Although they are here all year long, it picks-up when it gets warmer.

I do not see any hispanic homeless. Many of the homless claim to be veterans or are reatively young without money. The number that are drug addicts or alcoholics is extremely small.

They all have signs which say they are hungry, disabled or need money for fare to get home.

quote:

Originally posted by norie:
Sorry Mike I stopped going to the zoo a long time ago!

lmao

then according to you herb, the economy has nothing to do w/ becoming homeless...it's just something you do when you need a ticket out of here or dont' feel like working for your next meal....

hakuna matata...means, NO WORRIES

quote:

Originally posted by Concourse Star:
then according to you herb, the economy has nothing to do w/ becoming homeless...it's just something you do when you need a ticket out of here or dont' feel like working for your next meal....

hakuna matata...means, NO WORRIES

what is this freakin words. hakuna matata sounds freakin dum.what are you some surt of freakin weback.

CS, I am talking about those homeless that stand on stree corners with a sign asking for help. These are generally people who have no interest in working or have mental problems.

The families and single people that became homeless because of financial reasons are not on the corners. They generally would be in shelters , looking for work or are actually working.

OH, ....

quote:

.

hakuna matata...means, NO WORRIES

what is this freakin words. hakuna matata sounds freakin dum.what are you some surt of freakin weback.[/QUOTE]

IT'S SWAHILI NOODLE BRAIN

If you can stand on a corner for 6,8,10 hours a day holding a sign,you can also ask if you want fries with that?