Dear friends,<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">It appears Urbana may have the votes to pass the anti-panhandling ordinance tonight. If they do, it will make asking people for help in most places a crime punishable by a $165 fine. <br>
<br><b>Please show up to speak against this ordinance at 7 pm at City Council Chambers at 400 S. Vine Street. </b><br><br>I have attached the ordinance with its summary memo and my email to council and the Mayor is below.<br>
<br>I have proposed an alternative sanction against harrassment (whether money is solicited or not) which responds to the actual stated concern that people are being harassed and threatened by people asking for money.<br>
<br>- Danielle<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Danielle Chynoweth</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chyn@ojctech.com" target="_blank">chyn@ojctech.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 10:06 AM<br>Subject: Re: Urbana apartment buildings condemned<br>To: "! Lewis, Robert" <<a href="mailto:robertlewis10@comcast.net" target="_blank">robertlewis10@comcast.net</a>>, Dennis Roberts <<a href="mailto:drobertscitycouncil@yahoo.com" target="_blank">drobertscitycouncil@yahoo.com</a>>, Brandon Bowersox <<a href="mailto:brandon@ojctech.com" target="_blank">brandon@ojctech.com</a>>, "Prussing, Laurel Lunt" <<a href="mailto:llprussing@city.urbana.il.us" target="_blank">llprussing@city.urbana.il.us</a>>, Diane Marlin <<a href="mailto:marlindiane@gmail.com" target="_blank">marlindiane@gmail.com</a>>, <a href="mailto:egjakobsson@urbanaillinois.us" target="_blank">egjakobsson@urbanaillinois.us</a>, <a href="mailto:casmyth@urbanaillinois.us" target="_blank">casmyth@urbanaillinois.us</a><br>
Cc: Esther Patt <<a href="mailto:estherpatt@gmail.com" target="_blank">estherpatt@gmail.com</a>>, "Tyler, Elizabeth" <<a href="mailto:ehtyler@city.urbana.il.us" target="_blank">ehtyler@city.urbana.il.us</a>>, Ruth Wyman <<a href="mailto:rewyman@hotmail.com" target="_blank">rewyman@hotmail.com</a>>, Mike Monson <<a href="mailto:mrmonson@city.urbana.il.us" target="_blank">mrmonson@city.urbana.il.us</a>><br>
<br><br>Dear Mayor, Staff, and Council members,<br><br>Thank you for your time and service to our community.<br><br>I am writing asking you to oppose the anti-panhandling ordinance. It is inherently discriminatory, exacerbates rather than solves the problem of poverty, and is mean spirited. <br>
<br>I suggest you pass a law against harassment that would solve the stated problem instead of a law outlawing our right to ask each other for help in times of need.<br><br><b>Do we really want to create a ordinance that outlaws people asking each other for help?</b><br>
<br>This ordinance bans asking for help. I recently had a friend who ended up in another city with no cell phone or money. The only way he was able to call me to tell me he was alive was because he asked for help (aka panhandled) one dollar to call me. Although not all requests for help are legitimate, some are. <br>
<br>I have been in situations in my life where I needed to ask for help (after dark, near a bus stop, asking someone in a car). Please put yourself in the situation of those far less fortunate than you and consider the consequences of all the situations this law will cover. If you are stranded and the only person available to help you is in a car or waiting for a bus, should you not be able to exercise your right as a human to ask for help?<br>
<br><i>This law is mean spirited - outlawing legitimate requests for help in times of need. </i><br><br><b>This ordinance creates a big net to catch a small fish.</b><br>
<br>
The argument for this law is that people are being threatened by
aggressive requests for help. But the law is written to prohibit LOTS
of kinds of requests (near a bus stop, in a car, on the bus, in a city
lot, in line, after sunset, in groups of twos, in one specific business
district). In fact the only time is appears it is okay to ask for help is in the middle of a sidewalk not near any place where people are likely to dwell.<br>
<br>
The mark of a bad law is one that is so detailed that no one really
knows when they are breaking it. There are so many situations lists
here, it is like walking through swiss cheese. <br>
<br>
It is unfair to create laws that people can't easily understand and comply with.<br><br><b>What is the difference between panhandling and fundraising? The only difference is the "profile" of who is asking - this is why this ordinance is inherently discriminatory.</b><br>
<br>According to the ordinance "Panhandling means a verbal request made in person upon any street, public place, or park in the city for an immediate donation of money or other thing of value, including a request to purchase an item or service of little or no monetary value … "<br>
<br>What is the difference between panhandling and those fundraising for Salvation Army, cheerleaders shouting into cars going by offering to wash cars, or girls selling girl scout cookies? People offering to wash your windows or rake your leaves for a "donation"? Answer: the person who is making the request.<br>
<br><i>This ordinance gives people who are uncomfortable with poor people a tool to make them go away and punish them, while allowing similar behavior from affluent people.</i><br><br><b>Fining people who don't have money makes no sense and fills the jail.<br>
</b><br>It is not in the public interest to fine people money who are asking for money. It is clear they can not pay. And if they can't pay, they will end up paying off their time in jail. That means we the taxpayers end up paying. And ending up in jail means that they can not conduct their lives - go to or look for work - or take care of their kids - all because they asked for money on the street.<br>
<br><b>So, how do I think you SHOULD solve the problem:</b><br><br>Those who do not want to be solicited need to simply say no and walk away. <br><br>For those instances where someone is being harassed and threatened, the problem is NOT the asking for money, but the harrassment. If someone touched, blocked, followed, threatened or cursed at you, you would feel the same harassment whether they had asked for money or not. The harassment is the problem - go ahead and make a law against that.<br>
<br>Ask long as there are poor people, there will be poor people asking for money. As unemployment rises, people are being evicted from housing, the number of homeless kids is on the increase, the city of Urbana needs to continue to address the problem of poverty and not simply make mean spirited laws that wish the problem away. Funding social services is a start - thank you for continuing your support for them. <br>
<br>But we need laws that hold landlords accountable for relocating displaced tenants. We need to treat drug addiction like we do alcohol addiction - as a health issue needing treatment. We need to pull together as a community to make sure everyone's basic needs are met. This kind of ordinance does the opposite. It shuts up and punishes those who don't have their basic needs met.<br>
<br>Again and always, thank you for your service.<div><div></div><div><br><br>Danielle Chynoweth<br>412 W. Illinois St.<br>Urbana, IL 61801<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br> <br>
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