Panhandling for a life!

Panhandling Regulatory Bylaw 3321, 2015

Proposed in a Special Council Meeting, 14 Sep, 2015: while ostensibly open to the public - few may have been aware of it.

One-two punch One!
Nelson - with no public- and/or Council-participation in what process - finds out from Kevin Cormack, Chief Admin Officer (CAO) - without official announcement even, going it solo all the way: Cottonwood Market is to be torn-down. With manner of, timing and reasoning an affront to all: clearly an attempt to get rid of transients sometimes sheltering there - with nowhere else to go! don't you get it!

One-two punch Two!
Promptly followed by a proposed Panhandling Regulatory Bylaw, which - in effect - is to make panhandling illegal anywhere in meaning downtown. With such a no-go slew of locations/situations/conditions: prospective panhandlers may have to become certified in their craft of choice.

By Law!
While such bylaw may be helpful in principle - putting it ahead of no serious attempt so far to deal with the nature of the problem makes its intent questionable. It does not come from compassionate concern - but barely disguised downtown-greed and distaste for those who won't satisfy it!

This regulatory bylaw does not stop person(s) from panhandling, it enables person(s) panhandling to know guidelines within the City of Nelson. It protects the safety of everyone involved.

I dare cops/meter-maids to recite these endless guidelines in full from memory. It will be less taxing for them to just quote/apply the proposed all-purpose
2. GENERAL REGULATIONS
2.2 No person shall Panhandle in a manner to cause an obstruction
and be done with it. Entitled shop-keepers present having their backs no matter what.

   

 

Public Disconnect!
This bylaw was not on the agenda of the public Committee of the Whole, 14 Sep, 2015 - but dealt with as Reading 1 & 2 in a Special Meeting, same date. While open to the public - left unannounced clearly to outsiders. Who may have concerns over the presence of transients in Nelson one way or the other. Who may have attended the meeting - if.
More sensitivity around this panhandling-issue - so closely on the heels of the Cottonwood announcement - may have created some by now necessary goodwill.

Cops/Meter-Maids!
Supposedly the Nelson Police Department (NPD) and Bylaw Enforcement Officers are requesting this regulatory bylaw due to an increase in panhandling within the City limits, especially the downtown core.

Not so much in Rosemont. I say supposedly because the few meter-maids we have are rarely seen - cops on-the-hoof never! So one does question why they would be the ones requesting this regulatory bylaw. Looks righteous, though.

Bylaw Officers, when asking person(s) panhandling to move along, believe 50% of the panhandlers they interact with are great and easy but then there is the other 50% who are confrontational, use extreme profanity, and seem to need the extra encouragement or incentive (NPD assistance) to comply.

How simplistic can this get: confirming impressions many have of our overpaid meter-maids. How would exactly-50%-are-these and exactly-50%-are-those translate into reality-based numbers - if? Regardless of this hooey: seeing that the few meter-maids we have are spread thinly - even when not on who's to know breaks - and cops have much better things to do with their (over)time: enforcement won't be enforceable. But if it does happen - how could it go past running the endless list of guidelines by panhandlers. Who just won't know the science of it all.

  


Guilt!
I have never felt obstructed, threatened by a panhandler - and I'm downtown almost daily. Very few ask. I admit - though: I consistently feel uncomfortable passing one.

I don't want them there because they shouldn't have to be there - marginalized, made to feel less than! A fine of 500 bucks for engaging with a meter-maid? Get a loan! How long would it take them to make even just 25 for a basic wrong-place wrong-time wrong-life fine - sitting on their cold butt and waiting .....!

But then - making money on this is not the issue for City Hall. Rather it is to keep these unattractive misfits moving all day all the time: and soon they'll move right out of NIMBY-Nelson altogether. 

What with the recent multi-group (including cop-shop) hand-wringing with what to do! what to do! about the increase in mental-health issued - when the smoke cleared, for the City it came down to: let's just pass a bylaw to simply get rid of them out-of-sight out-of-mind. From wringing their hands to washing them of the problem.

   

I do resent the downtown-business money-at-any-cost ways: feeling uncomfortably obstructed (by guilt: one hopes) on their way to make a bank-deposit. If feelings are an option.
First the amenities-redo, then the Cottonwood attempt - now this! And if this won't do the trick: how about water-cannons! Multi-purpose once-and-for-all water-cannons!
Flush 'em! Flush 'em good!




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