Dori Monson: Panhandling shouldn’t be banned in downtown Seattle

Taken from The Dori Monson Show.

A downtown Seattle business owner wants a ban on panhandling.

KIRO Radio’s Brandi Kruse reported Wednesday about David Watkins, a hotelier who is pushing for a strict no-panhandling zone from the waterfront to the convention center.

KOMO TV also covered the story and spoke to a number of panhandlers about how they felt about the proposed ban. A 20-something panhandler named Jenna Meyer told them she doesn’t agree with it.

“If people want to give me money, great, if they don’t then, they don’t have to. I don’t get up in their faces. I just sit out here quietly with my sign and generally look down,” said Meyer.

For people like Jenna Meyer, it’s generally about choices. A $15 an hour minimum wage is on its way in Seattle. She might be able to support herself, but why, when panhandling is so lucrative? Meyer revealed to KOMO she made between $80 and $200 a day. That’s about $40,000 a year tax free, that a panhandler can make in downtown Seattle.

I’ve never understood people who give to panhandlers. I understand people who give to food banks and to the missions downtown, where not only they provide a bed and a meal, but they also provide job training and sobriety classes, means for these people to change their life so they can take control of their own life, so they won’t be sitting out on the street corner panhandling.

But giving money directly to the panhandlers, you know that money is going to go straight into a bottle of fortified wine, or straight in their arm, or straight up their nose. All you are is a huge part of the problem when you give to panhandlers.

But do I think panhandling should be banned in downtown Seattle? Absolutely not: free speech. They should be free to ask. We should be free to give or say no. I’m all about freedom.

I do feel bad for the business owners whose businesses are affected. I know a lot of people who don’t like going to downtown Seattle because of the panhandling, because of the crime, because of the open weed smoking.

I think panhandlers are sad and I think they are very wrong-headed in what they are choosing to make of their life, but I do not think they should be banned and prohibited as some downtown business owners believe and are pushing for.

Taken from Thursday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

JS