[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [Peace] Urbana set to pass an anti-panhandling ordinance tonight 7 pm

[C. G. Estabrook]

This seems to be an important matter, on which Danielle offers a convincing 
analysis. --CGE


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[Peace] Urbana set to pass an anti-panhandling ordinance tonight 7 pm
Date: 	Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:37:40 -0500
From: 	Danielle Chynoweth <chyn at ojctech.com>
To: 	AWARE peace <peace at lists.chambana.net>, stop at iresist.org



Dear friends,

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.

*Please show up to speak against this ordinance at 7 pm at City Council Chambers 
at 400 S. Vine Street. *

I have attached the ordinance with its summary memo and my email to council and 
the Mayor is below.

I have proposed an alternative sanction against harassment (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.

- Danielle

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: *Danielle Chynoweth* <chyn at ojctech.com <mailto:chyn at ojctech.com>>
Date: Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: Urbana apartment buildings condemned
To: "! Lewis, Robert" <robertlewis10 at comcast.net 
<mailto:robertlewis10 at comcast.net>>, Dennis Roberts 
<drobertscitycouncil at yahoo.com <mailto:drobertscitycouncil at yahoo.com>>, Brandon 
Bowersox <brandon at ojctech.com <mailto:brandon at ojctech.com>>, "Prussing, Laurel 
Lunt" <llprussing at city.urbana.il.us <mailto:llprussing at city.urbana.il.us>>, 
Diane Marlin <marlindiane at gmail.com <mailto:marlindiane at gmail.com>>, 
egjakobsson at urbanaillinois.us <mailto:egjakobsson at urbanaillinois.us>, 
casmyth at urbanaillinois.us <mailto:casmyth at urbanaillinois.us>
Cc: Esther Patt <estherpatt at gmail.com <mailto:estherpatt at gmail.com>>, "Tyler, 
Elizabeth" <ehtyler at city.urbana.il.us <mailto:ehtyler at city.urbana.il.us>>, Ruth 
Wyman <rewyman at hotmail.com <mailto:rewyman at hotmail.com>>, Mike Monson 
<mrmonson at city.urbana.il.us <mailto:mrmonson at city.urbana.il.us>>


Dear Mayor, Staff, and Council members,

Thank you for your time and service to our community.

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.

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.

*Do we really want to create a ordinance that outlaws people asking each other 
for help?*

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.

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?

/This law is mean spirited - outlawing legitimate requests for help in times of 
need. /

*This ordinance creates a big net to catch a small fish.*

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.

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.

It is unfair to create laws that people can't easily understand and comply with.

*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.*

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 ? "

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.

/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./

*Fining people who don't have money makes no sense and fills the jail.
*
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.

*So, how do I think you SHOULD solve the problem:*

Those who do not want to be solicited need to simply say no and walk away.

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.

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.

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.

Again and always, thank you for your service.


Danielle Chynoweth
412 W. Illinois St.
Urbana, IL 61801













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