{"id":372301,"date":"2010-02-26T18:15:49","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T23:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011202726_crackdownonaggressivepanhandling.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-02-26T18:15:49","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T23:15:49","slug":"crackdown-on-aggressive-panhandling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/372301","title":{"rendered":"Crackdown on aggressive panhandling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Needed to cease intimidation and revitalize downtown<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Editor, The Times:<\/p>\n<p>A big \u201cbravo\u201d for Councilmember Tim Burgess for speaking out to make our downtown areas safer from overly aggressive panhandlers and unruly crowds [\u201cPanhandling crackdown urged,\u201d page one, Feb. 25].<\/p>\n<p>Of course, everybody has a right to be there but not the right to intimidate others. Visitors and shoppers would simply stay away from downtown and take their business elsewhere, adding to the recession woes of many fine downtown shops. With much concern, we see that some downtown shops have left already, are consolidating or scaling back. A mass exodus of downtown shops would be a disaster for our beautiful city.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, the city\u2019s recent efforts to curb some unacceptable behavior are showing results. Walking in downtown streets has already become much more pleasant. This will go a long way to keep our downtown areas vibrant and inviting.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Wolfgang Mack, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Focus solely on spurring business, not on a few individuals<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a downtown resident and woman, I am concerned about the City Council\u2019s proposal to crack down on panhandling. While downtown has its fair share of panhandlers, I have yet to encounter one who has been threatening or aggressive.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, on my walk to work, I experience just the opposite: courteous and friendly panhandlers who are respectful of my personal space. Also on my walk to work are plenty of empty storefronts and businesses going under in the downtown core. Seems like the council should be focused on this larger malaise than targeting a few individuals.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Shefali Ranganathan, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Panhandling a \u2018basic safety net\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There goes my \u201cplan B.\u201d I figured that when I lose my job, house and Basic Health Plan, I can at least ask people for spare change. City Councilmember Tim Burgess would take even that away. What a terrible idea.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s defeat this on free-speech grounds as well as protecting the most basic of safety nets in a worsening economy.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Henry Noble, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Needed to cease intimidation and revitalize downtown Editor, The Times: A big \u201cbravo\u201d for Councilmember Tim Burgess for speaking out to make our downtown areas safer from overly aggressive panhandlers and unruly crowds [\u201cPanhandling crackdown urged,\u201d page one, Feb. 25]. Of course, everybody has a right to be there but not the right to intimidate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372301\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}