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SF Meters Will Take Coins for Homeless

City, aiming to cut panhandling, will give change to non-profits

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted May 13, 2008 1:58 PM CDT
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(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.”

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.
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.
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.
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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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
Tony
Sep 7, 2010 3:10 PM CDT
Isn't this the basic concept behind most of our assistance to the disadvantaged - hand them cash? How can the mayor say, "We're not helping these individuals by handing out cash directly." Our entire welfare infrastructure is based on "handing out cash" without consideration as to whether it is used well. I cite the food stamp program. In spite of the ease with which the government could control what food is bought with food stamps by requiring the stores to allow/disallow food on the basis of whether it is really nutritious (a current aim of many states like New York and increasing by the federal government), this is not done. Instead, "cash" is given to buy whatever food, whether healthy or not.

The effects of donation meters
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San Francisco • homeless • charity • donation • nonprofit • panhandler • parking meters • Gavin Newsom

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