Sorry but I have little faith in the use of parking meters as surrogate fundraisers for the Homeless. We had them here in Nashville years ago and they were a flop, and even those who do use them will tell you they raise very little money; it probably costs the taxpayer more to put them in place and have an attendant go around and empty them periodically than it would if we just gave that money directly to those folks who really need a few bucks.
The primary thrust of the effort of course is that concerned citizens can donate to "help the Homeless" without perpetuating panhandling. I won't go into the whole panhandling argument here; there are plenty of sites and information available dealing with panhandling and I've written on it extensively myself early on in this blog. Suffice it to say, this is ridiculous, since the folks who are panhandling aren't getting the services they need from those agencies this money goes to in the first place- if they were, they wouldn't be panhandling. Period.
Aside from being an extremely poor method of fundraising, the problem here is that a meter is not a human being and there is simply no substitute for the "feel good" euphoria that rolls over folks when they do something they believe helps their fellow man/woman/child, even if in the long run it is misguided. I don't know anyone who has ever told me putting money in a parking meter brought them satisfaction and that they'd somehow made the world a better place today.
Then there's the question of who actually receives the money from those meters; many agencies and organizations who serve the Homeless every day are running below the radar, since it isn't uncommon for highly publicized services to attract a cadre of folks who want to move the Homeless "anywhere but here." The pittance they might receive from the charity of those who pass by a meter and dump pocket change is hardly worth the risk of having a targeted and concerted effort initiated to shut them down.
Sorry, but meters are an old and outdated answer to a complex and perplexing issue of finding funding to assist those in dire need, and it saddens me that this is the best the leaders of our cities can come up with to respond to the problems associated with homelessness.
USA TODAY
October 18, 2007 Thursday
FINAL EDITION
Parking meters make a change for needy; Cities offer alternative way to give in efforts to combat homelessness, panhandling
BYLINE: Patrick O'Driscoll
DENVER -- On Friday afternoons, downtown office worker Christine Bertin empties her desktop piggy bank and goes out to feed the meter.
She isn't overparked. Bertin is helping the homeless.
The refurbished parking meter is labeled "Denver's Road Home," for the city's 10-year campaign to end homelessness. Eighty-five more meters like it dot downtown, the airport and other places with high foot traffic.
Painted red to stand out from the city's gray parking meters, the donation stations do double duty. They educate the public about ways to help the homeless and discourage panhandling by offering a better place to put spare change than an outstretched hand.
In Denver and other cities, the meter donations go directly to services such as shelters, housing, job counseling and health care.
"I didn't know about 'Denver's Road Home' until I saw the meters," says Bertin, 57, a federal employee who also collects change from co-workers. "I never felt comfortable giving money to (panhandlers). By the same token, it pulls your heartstrings. Now, when people say, 'Do you have a quarter?' I can look them straight in the eye and say, 'I gave at the meter.'"
The idea, first tried last fall in Baltimore, is spreading. Denver's effort, with 36 meters last March and 50 more this fall, is the most extensive. Jamie Van Leeuwen, manager of Denver's homeless programs, says more than 20 cities have inquired about the program from New York to Durango, Colo. International interest includes Dublin, Toronto and Montreal, where 34 meters went into service in July.
Elsewhere:
*Chattanooga, Tenn., is rolling out the first of a dozen revamped meters this week, says Richard Beeland of Mayor Ron Littlefield's office. "It will be blue and red, colorful and whimsical," Beeland says. Some meters in the "Art of Change" program may be decorated by artists.
*In Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak's office is working on "the most appropriate messaging" on the meters, says Cathy ten Broeke, homeless coordinator for the city and Hennepin County. "We want to make sure we are in no way demeaning people in need on the streets."
*Las Vegas, where people give panhandlers an estimated $24 million a year, is considering meters. "No matter how much you're giving, it's not moving them any closer to housing," says Shannon West, homeless coordinator for the regional planning commission.
*Baltimore's Inner Harbor has 10 blue-and-green meters for its "Make a Change" program.
When coins are deposited, the dials click from "despair" to "hope." The meters "don't raise a lot of money -- maybe $100 a month," says Tom Yeager of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, which runs the program. "But it satisfies the education (outreach), and it's one prong in a much larger effort to curb panhandling and raise awareness for homeless advocacy."
Michael Scott, a University of Wisconsin law professor who has studied panhandling, says the educational message is valuable. He warns that the meters "can backfire if many people say to themselves, 'That's the way I'll give to charity -- plunk some coins in these meters'" instead of supporting service agencies.
Van Leeuwen, Denver's program manager, says every nickel, dime and quarter from the meters "goes right back out to homeless providers to build new housing, create new jobs, create new services."
He acknowledges that the meters aren't a significant revenue source. In the first six months, Denver collected $8,446.50 in coins -- a pittance compared with the area's estimated $70 million yearly outlay for public and private services to the homeless. Each meter will net an additional $1,000 a year from firms and people who pay to "adopt" one.
A survey by the Downtown Denver Partnership estimates people here give panhandlers $4.5 million a year. Mayor John Hickenlooper says "99% is being used for self-destructive consumption," such as alcohol or drugs.
The survey also says panhandling on the city's mile-long pedestrian mall has declined 92% since Hickenlooper instituted aggressive intervention measures two years ago to help the homeless, including the meters. Van Leeuwen says the city has placed about 300 families -- 1,000 people total -- in permanent housing since then; 83% still are in their homes a year later. Denver's homeless count earlier this year was 3,950 people.
Hickenlooper, a former brew pub and restaurant owner who pioneered redevelopment in the hip downtown district that supplanted Denver's old Skid Row, admits being part of the problem in earlier days. "We used to bring food to a guy living in our alley." Then Hickenlooper "began to realize the amount of harm that just giving food or money to homeless people does" instead of helping them find permanent homes and jobs.
10.18.2007
The meters "don't raise a lot of money -- maybe $100 a month,"
Sorry but I have little faith in the use of parking meters as surrogate fundraisers for the Homeless. We had them here in Nashville years ago and they were a flop, and even those who do use them will tell you they raise very little money; it probably costs the taxpayer more to put them in place and have an attendant go around and empty them periodically than it would if we just gave that money directly to those folks who really need a few bucks.
The primary thrust of the effort of course is that concerned citizens can donate to "help the Homeless" without perpetuating panhandling. I won't go into the whole panhandling argument here; there are plenty of sites and information available dealing with panhandling and I've written on it extensively myself early on in this blog. Suffice it to say, this is ridiculous, since the folks who are panhandling aren't getting the services they need from those agencies this money goes to in the first place- if they were, they wouldn't be panhandling. Period.
Aside from being an extremely poor method of fundraising, the problem here is that a meter is not a human being and there is simply no substitute for the "feel good" euphoria that rolls over folks when they do something they believe helps their fellow man/woman/child, even if in the long run it is misguided. I don't know anyone who has ever told me putting money in a parking meter brought them satisfaction and that they'd somehow made the world a better place today.
Then there's the question of who actually receives the money from those meters; many agencies and organizations who serve the Homeless every day are running below the radar, since it isn't uncommon for highly publicized services to attract a cadre of folks who want to move the Homeless "anywhere but here." The pittance they might receive from the charity of those who pass by a meter and dump pocket change is hardly worth the risk of having a targeted and concerted effort initiated to shut them down.
Sorry, but meters are an old and outdated answer to a complex and perplexing issue of finding funding to assist those in dire need, and it saddens me that this is the best the leaders of our cities can come up with to respond to the problems associated with homelessness.
USA TODAY
October 18, 2007 Thursday
FINAL EDITION
Parking meters make a change for needy; Cities offer alternative way to give in efforts to combat homelessness, panhandling
BYLINE: Patrick O'Driscoll
DENVER -- On Friday afternoons, downtown office worker Christine Bertin empties her desktop piggy bank and goes out to feed the meter.
She isn't overparked. Bertin is helping the homeless.
The refurbished parking meter is labeled "Denver's Road Home," for the city's 10-year campaign to end homelessness. Eighty-five more meters like it dot downtown, the airport and other places with high foot traffic.
Painted red to stand out from the city's gray parking meters, the donation stations do double duty. They educate the public about ways to help the homeless and discourage panhandling by offering a better place to put spare change than an outstretched hand.
In Denver and other cities, the meter donations go directly to services such as shelters, housing, job counseling and health care.
"I didn't know about 'Denver's Road Home' until I saw the meters," says Bertin, 57, a federal employee who also collects change from co-workers. "I never felt comfortable giving money to (panhandlers). By the same token, it pulls your heartstrings. Now, when people say, 'Do you have a quarter?' I can look them straight in the eye and say, 'I gave at the meter.'"
The idea, first tried last fall in Baltimore, is spreading. Denver's effort, with 36 meters last March and 50 more this fall, is the most extensive. Jamie Van Leeuwen, manager of Denver's homeless programs, says more than 20 cities have inquired about the program from New York to Durango, Colo. International interest includes Dublin, Toronto and Montreal, where 34 meters went into service in July.
Elsewhere:
*Chattanooga, Tenn., is rolling out the first of a dozen revamped meters this week, says Richard Beeland of Mayor Ron Littlefield's office. "It will be blue and red, colorful and whimsical," Beeland says. Some meters in the "Art of Change" program may be decorated by artists.
*In Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak's office is working on "the most appropriate messaging" on the meters, says Cathy ten Broeke, homeless coordinator for the city and Hennepin County. "We want to make sure we are in no way demeaning people in need on the streets."
*Las Vegas, where people give panhandlers an estimated $24 million a year, is considering meters. "No matter how much you're giving, it's not moving them any closer to housing," says Shannon West, homeless coordinator for the regional planning commission.
*Baltimore's Inner Harbor has 10 blue-and-green meters for its "Make a Change" program.
When coins are deposited, the dials click from "despair" to "hope." The meters "don't raise a lot of money -- maybe $100 a month," says Tom Yeager of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, which runs the program. "But it satisfies the education (outreach), and it's one prong in a much larger effort to curb panhandling and raise awareness for homeless advocacy."
Michael Scott, a University of Wisconsin law professor who has studied panhandling, says the educational message is valuable. He warns that the meters "can backfire if many people say to themselves, 'That's the way I'll give to charity -- plunk some coins in these meters'" instead of supporting service agencies.
Van Leeuwen, Denver's program manager, says every nickel, dime and quarter from the meters "goes right back out to homeless providers to build new housing, create new jobs, create new services."
He acknowledges that the meters aren't a significant revenue source. In the first six months, Denver collected $8,446.50 in coins -- a pittance compared with the area's estimated $70 million yearly outlay for public and private services to the homeless. Each meter will net an additional $1,000 a year from firms and people who pay to "adopt" one.
A survey by the Downtown Denver Partnership estimates people here give panhandlers $4.5 million a year. Mayor John Hickenlooper says "99% is being used for self-destructive consumption," such as alcohol or drugs.
The survey also says panhandling on the city's mile-long pedestrian mall has declined 92% since Hickenlooper instituted aggressive intervention measures two years ago to help the homeless, including the meters. Van Leeuwen says the city has placed about 300 families -- 1,000 people total -- in permanent housing since then; 83% still are in their homes a year later. Denver's homeless count earlier this year was 3,950 people.
Hickenlooper, a former brew pub and restaurant owner who pioneered redevelopment in the hip downtown district that supplanted Denver's old Skid Row, admits being part of the problem in earlier days. "We used to bring food to a guy living in our alley." Then Hickenlooper "began to realize the amount of harm that just giving food or money to homeless people does" instead of helping them find permanent homes and jobs.
Smiling does a body good
