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

[Danielle Chynoweth]

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 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.

- Danielle

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Danielle Chynoweth <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>, Dennis Roberts <
drobertscitycouncil at yahoo.com>, Brandon Bowersox <brandon at ojctech.com>,
"Prussing, Laurel Lunt" <llprussing at city.urbana.il.us>, Diane Marlin <
marlindiane at gmail.com>, egjakobsson at urbanaillinois.us,
casmyth at urbanaillinois.us
Cc: Esther Patt <estherpatt at gmail.com>, "Tyler, Elizabeth" <
ehtyler at city.urbana.il.us>, Ruth Wyman <rewyman at hotmail.com>, Mike Monson <
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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