The panhandling life

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By DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

Since panhandling became legal in Lincoln in spring 2004, police have tried to keep panhandlers in check, but there’s not a lot they can do other than enforce city rules and try to persuade the public to stop handing out money.

By DEENA WINTER | Lincoln Journal Star

It’s another sizzler, but Greg Meyers, 49, sits in the sun on the concrete corner of 14th and P.

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Georgina Mulligan and Greg Meyers talk about Mulligan's thoughts on leaving Lincoln. She plans to travel to Sacramento, Calif., for the winter. (Michelle Le)

Georgina Mulligan and Greg Meyers talk about Mulligan's thoughts on leaving Lincoln. She plans to travel to Sacramento, Calif., for the winter. (Michelle Le)

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His cardboard sign says:

Homeless

Anything helps

Thank you!

Have a nice day.

He tries to make eye contact with college kids, men in suits and moms with strollers. Most of them look past the man in blue jeans, blue shirt and black baseball cap.

“I don’t do kids, and I don’t do people eating. And I don’t do older folks. Other than that, it’s fair game.”

Sometimes the money falls into his hands quickly; other days it takes hours.

He doesn’t push.

Today, he’s looking for someone to “sell” him a cigarette, even though he has a bag of tobacco in his pocket.

A woman walks by with a cigarette in hand. She says she just bought the one at Jake’s.

“Can I get a hit off it?”

She passes.

Meyers says he has lived in Lincoln for 40 years and has been homeless since 1990. He recognizes a lot of faces but doesn’t know many names.

He’s joined on the corner by fellow homeless man Mike Johns, 43.

Across the street, a man resembling Grizzly Adams — piercing eyes nearly buried beneath a mop of dark brown hair — is headed toward them. His name is Brian, but they call him “Wolfie.”

He doesn’t talk much.

“You all right?” Meyers asks. “You need anything?”

He shakes his head no and gives them each a high-five before continuing north.

“He’s a nice guy,” Meyers says. “He doesn’t bother nobody.”

A young man with long hair tosses Meyers a bag of potato chips as he passes. Once he’s gone, Meyers throws the bag to Johns.

He has diabetes, but you can’t specify dietary restrictions when panhandling.

“They give me food all the time; I give it away,” he says.

Meyers and Johns say they play by the city’s rules — at least they think they do.

Meyers says he’s legal if he puts out his sign. “If I ask for money, it’s a ticket and jail.”

“You can only ask once,” says Johns, and not at night.

They don’t seem to notice that their rules contradict each other.

They may not have all the details straight, but they’re right: It’s been legal to panhandle in Lincoln since spring 2004, when Dennis Van De Mark Sr. sued the city over its ban on panhandling. Since then, more and more panhandlers have come out of the shadows and onto street corners and stairwells downtown.

And police and city officials are hearing about it from downtown dwellers.

Police have tried, without much success, to keep panhandlers in check, but there’s not a lot they can do other than enforce city rules and try to persuade the public to stop handing over money that’s often used to buy alcohol. City leaders are considering banning panhandling downtown, although it’s unclear whether such a law would withstand a court challenge. And, they know doing so might just push the problem onto another neighborhood.

Police Chief Tom Casady says police don’t have any easy short-term solutions and the problem “continues relatively unabated.”

“I think we’re doing all that we can reasonably do with the resources (we have),” he said. “I simply can’t ticket them all away.”

Panhandling legalized

It’s legal to panhandle in Lincoln, but you can’t “aggressively” panhandle.

It’s OK to approach someone and say, “Can you spare a dime?” But panhandlers can’t touch, follow, block paths, approach people in lines or use profane, intimidating or abusive language. And they can’t ask for money before sunrise or after sunset or at bus stops, sidewalk cafes, from vehicles or within 20 feet of ATMs or bank entrances. They also can’t work in groups.

Those are the highlights, and most panhandlers know them.

Downtown bike cop Conan Schafer says police have given panhandlers copies of the ordinance in the past, but their interpretation of the law has evolved and now many mistakenly believe they can only ask for money by holding a sign.

“I just went with it,” he said.

Schafer has patrolled downtown Lincoln on bike for nearly four years and makes it his business to know the people who work and live downtown, including the homeless.

“They’re not just faceless people to us,” Schafer says. “I just couldn’t imagine seeing them every day and not talking to them.”

Lincoln’s panhandlers can be charming and friendly when sober, irritable and combative when they’re not. The panhandlers know all the cops’ hiding places, and the cops know all the places the panhandlers go to drink, sleep, shower and have sex.

“It’s a day-to-day dance,” Schafer says.

Lincoln has a core group of about 20 homeless panhandlers, he says.

“Of those, I can say for a fact that they are all alcoholics (or have) substance-abuse problems,” he said, and some of the money people give them supports their habits.

A recent study of Lincoln’s homeless population found substance abuse or addiction was the primary reason 37 percent of them were on the streets.

Some of Lincoln’s 1,500 to 2,000 homeless people gravitate to 14th Street between N and R streets, which has comfortable benches and public restrooms nearby at the city library and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Union — not to mention easy targets.

“University students are notoriously gracious with handouts,” Casady says. He’s proposed making the outdoor furniture along 14th less comfortable by eliminating seat backs and armrests.

The corner of 14th and P is a hot spot for panhandlers, especially during the lunch hour. Begging for money from weekend bar crowds is also common, even though panhandling is illegal at night.

Centennial Mall is attractive because its vegetation provides cover for everything from drinking to fornicating.

The fountains are occasionally used for bathing — sometimes in the nude — despite Schafer’s attempts to convince homeless people the water contains harsh chemicals.

The fountains are on the back doorstep of the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications, and Dean Will Norton says the college saw as many as 10 times the homeless people drinking or using the mall for shade and water this summer.

“We had a real difficult time this summer. We would have eight to 10 people here sometimes; people actually getting into the fountains and taking baths.”

It’s a concern to him because students come and go from the journalism school late at night.

“We want to be sure this is a safe area,” he says. “It’s been a concern for us for a long time.”

Rather than punish the homeless, he says, Lincoln needs to find a positive solution and places for them.

Are there more?

Downtown employers and employees generally fall into two categories, Schafer says.  

* Those frustrated with the growing number of panhandlers and homeless who lurk downtown — urinating in the streets, sleeping in doorways, passing out on sidewalks, hassling customers.

* Those who enable panhandlers by giving them money or food and letting them use their restrooms.

Schafer estimates panhandlers make $40 to $50 per week; up to $100 during special events.

“If nobody gave them any money, there would be no reason to go down there,” he says.

While many people say there are more homeless people and panhandlers than ever, Schafer doesn’t see it. He says panhandlers have just become more brazen and visible since the city legalized their trade. Police never wrote as many tickets for panhandling as they do for trespassing, consuming alcohol in public and disturbing the peace, he says.

And homeless people lost a place to go during the day when the DayWatch shelter closed in 2004.

Lincoln’s quality services and “three hots and a cot” may actually attract homeless people, Casady says.

Those who serve the poor and homeless say there’s no reason people should have to panhandle to eat in Lincoln, unless they’ve behaved so badly they’ve been banned from local soup kitchens.

The Gathering Place offers dinner every weeknight, serving an average of 115 dinners nightly in July, compared with 98 last year.

Matt Talbot Kitchen serves two meals a day to about 200 people, seven days a week. In July, the kitchen served 10,467 meals, the highest in its 14-year history.

The People’s City Mission will pick up panhandlers and help them find jobs, food, shelter and clothing. But Director Tom Barber says most of the people holding “Will work for food” signs aren’t interested in working.

“It’s a con job,” he says.

Those who flout the rules at Matt Talbot and The Gathering Place can get kicked out for good.

Matt Talbot Kitchen Executive Director Susanne Blue says some of the people she sees panhandling are no longer served by any local organization because they’ve abused the services. Still, she discourages people from giving money to panhandlers, because it’s often spent on “unhealthy things.”

At Matt Talbot, workers won’t give clients markers to make panhandling signs.

What to do?

Police can’t just run off panhandlers. They have to have evidence a crime has been committed.

And even if they arrest someone for violating the panhandling law, Casady says, that’s not much of a deterrent. A few nights in jail can be a welcome respite from the streets.

Schafer says police are “banging our heads against the wall” trying to combat the panhandling problem.

Last month, he proposed a Problem-Oriented Policing Project targeting panhandling. Police officers worked to discourage panhandlers from drinking openly, passing out in the street, urinating in doorways. They wrote more tickets than usual, but Schafer says, “In my opinion it’s had zero effect.”

The police and Downtown Lincoln Association are trying to educate downtowners about the panhandling law and how to deal with panhandlers.

Schafer said they’re looking at a public education campaign with themes such as “Your contributions are killing me,” or “I’ll never get off the streets if you continue to support my alcoholism.”

Police say rather than give money to panhandlers, people should donate to charities that help them.

And don’t be suckered by panhandlers holding signs that say “Will work for food.”

“Will take your cold, hard cash” is more like it, Casady says.

Not all panhandlers are even homeless, he says. Some people temporarily “adopt the persona of a hobo” to make some quick cash.

“It’s a way to make an extra $100,” says Casady, who says he once arrested a guy who was panhandling near Edgewood 3 Theatre after the man returned to a car containing $150, dope and a Colt .45.

Barber said he once saw a guy finish a panhandling stint near Wal-Mart, jump in a “nice red pickup” and drive away.

The other side of the street

Greg Meyers and Mike Johns have been joined on the corner of 14th and P by James R. Cochran, 41, and somebody has been bothered enough to call the police. They say “eight or nine transients” are blocking people’s paths, cursing and begging.

Schafer and his partner take up their usual station in a parking garage across the street.

They watch Johns and Cochran walk to the middle of the block, near the Planet Sub entrance. One pulls a bottle of vodka from under his shirt. They both drink and return to the corner.

Schafer, his partner and a third officer move in. Johns is arrested for consuming alcohol in public and an outstanding arrest warrant. Cochran is arrested for consuming alcohol in public.

One of them had a blood alcohol content “well over .30,” Schafer says.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.

It’s the law

Panhandling, defined as a vocal appeal for money or other donation, is legal in Lincoln.

Aggressive panhandling is not legal; it involves touching, following, using profane, intimidating or abusive language, blocking someone’s path or entrance into a business, approaching someone who is standing in line, or making any statement or gesture that would cause a person to be afraid or to feel intimidated into giving a donation.

A person who passively stands or sits, performs music, sings or does some other type of street performance and indicates a donation is sought is not considered panhandling.

How Lincoln regulates panhandling:

* It is illegal before sunrise or after sunset.

* It is prohibited at bus stops, in public transportation vehicles or facilities, from vehicles parked or stopped on a street or in an alley, in sidewalk cafes and within 20 feet of an ATM or bank entrance.

* It cannot be done in groups of two or more.

Tips for dealing with panhandlers:

* Walk with confidence.

* If approached, acknowledge the request with a nod, say no and keep walking.

* If you feel threatened or see any violations of the panhandling ordinance, call the police.

* Give your spare change to an organization that serves homeless people and transients.

* Report such illegal activities as urinating in public, drinking alcohol in public, trespassing, littering or disturbing the peace. People who don’t appear to be coherent can be placed in civil protective custody if they’re unable to care for themselves.