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July 5, 2008 6:07:39 PM CDT

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SF Meters Will Take Coins for Homeless

Posted May 13, 08 1:58 PM CDT in US    Most Covered

(Newser) – San Francisco’s got a new plan to address panhandling: The city is installing old parking meters in popular begging areas where passers-by can drop their spare change rather than giving it to panhandlers. The money will go to local non-profits to help the homeless, the Chronicle reports. “We're not helping these individuals by handing out cash” directly, says the city’s mayor.

“The reason people are panhandling is because there's a market for panhandling,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “If there was strong evidence” that handing money to panhandlers helped them “turn their lives around, we would not be using this approach.” But some homeless advocates reject the plan. It plays into a stereotype that all panhandled money is going to drugs, says one, calling it “utterly ridiculous.”

Source San Francisco Chronicle

Editor Recommended
Victor Cattolico, center, and Josh Quinn, right, hand out a thanksgiving meal to a homeless man on a street corner in San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2007.   (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Old parking meters in San Francisco will become receptacles for donations to help the homeless.   (Shutterstock.com)
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom talks to reporters after his appearance before the Sacramento Press Club in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, March 25, 2008.   (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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San Francisco  • charity  • donation  • homeless  • Gavin Newsom  • nonprofit  • panhandler  • parking meters


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