Untitled Document
Garret Moffett calls downtown panhandling a
“problem of epidemic proportion.”
Moffett, owner of Springfield Walks, says that participants in his guided tours are often hit up for money five or six times, leading to safety and harassment issues. “For me, specifically, panhandlers were coming up before, after, and during the tours, asking for money,” he says. “It gives people a bad image of Springfield — people come to town to visit and we appear to be a town of beggars.”
Moffett joins other downtown business owners in supporting a newly approved city ordinance that fully prohibits panhandling in an area that includes such popular landmarks as the Capitol building and Old State Capitol on the west and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site on the east. The 24-hour off-limits area also includes the hospital district and the city’s train station.
Ward 5 Ald. Sam Cahnman sponsored the new ordinance, which subjects offenders to penalties of $25 to $100 or eight to 40 hours of community service. He says that the goal of the law is to reduce the incidence of panhandling in the downtown area, not to push panhandlers into other areas of the city, as some aldermen feared. “The downtown area is unique because there are large numbers of people who congregate there, so the panhandlers will naturally be attracted to those areas,” Cahnman says.
“Although it could possibly cause some of them to move to other areas, it’s not real likely, because the areas on the boundaries are not high-traffic areas,” he says. The city’s old ordinance prohibited panhandling from sunset to sunrise, as well as aggressive panhandling, throughout the city.
It was often difficult for police officers to enforce the old ordinance, Moffett says, but it seems that their task will become easier with Cahnman’s stricter terms. “In the last month or so, the Springfield Police Department has been extremely helpful in putting the word out that this behavior is not acceptable,” Moffett says. “Now that the ordinance is in place, cops have the tools to enforce the law.”
Cahnman says that police officers will initially issue warnings but will work to ticket and prosecute repeat offenders. He hopes that this will help send the message that the city will not tolerate panhandling.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
Moffett, owner of Springfield Walks, says that participants in his guided tours are often hit up for money five or six times, leading to safety and harassment issues. “For me, specifically, panhandlers were coming up before, after, and during the tours, asking for money,” he says. “It gives people a bad image of Springfield — people come to town to visit and we appear to be a town of beggars.”
Moffett joins other downtown business owners in supporting a newly approved city ordinance that fully prohibits panhandling in an area that includes such popular landmarks as the Capitol building and Old State Capitol on the west and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site on the east. The 24-hour off-limits area also includes the hospital district and the city’s train station.
Ward 5 Ald. Sam Cahnman sponsored the new ordinance, which subjects offenders to penalties of $25 to $100 or eight to 40 hours of community service. He says that the goal of the law is to reduce the incidence of panhandling in the downtown area, not to push panhandlers into other areas of the city, as some aldermen feared. “The downtown area is unique because there are large numbers of people who congregate there, so the panhandlers will naturally be attracted to those areas,” Cahnman says.
“Although it could possibly cause some of them to move to other areas, it’s not real likely, because the areas on the boundaries are not high-traffic areas,” he says. The city’s old ordinance prohibited panhandling from sunset to sunrise, as well as aggressive panhandling, throughout the city.
It was often difficult for police officers to enforce the old ordinance, Moffett says, but it seems that their task will become easier with Cahnman’s stricter terms. “In the last month or so, the Springfield Police Department has been extremely helpful in putting the word out that this behavior is not acceptable,” Moffett says. “Now that the ordinance is in place, cops have the tools to enforce the law.”
Cahnman says that police officers will initially issue warnings but will work to ticket and prosecute repeat offenders. He hopes that this will help send the message that the city will not tolerate panhandling.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
