I know the panhandling debate should be at an end but Today’s panhandling op-ed is just simply wild. Woke up at 3am to read in todays paper:

“I can’t imagine tourists foregoing a walk down the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris to avoid the hundreds of panhandlers.”

I gotta assume we’re talking Paris France that expelled 1000 Gypsies under legal challenge from the rest of the EU. This is the example being used:

Foreign-born Gypsies are often seen begging on the streets of France’s cities, often with small children or puppies, and many French people consider them a nuisance, or worse.

Sarkozy has linked Roma to crime, calling their camps sources of trafficking, exploitation of children and prostitution. On July 28, he pledged that illegal Gypsy camps would be “systematically evacuated.” Some 50 camps have been emptied since then, including at least two on Thursday, local officials said.

Yes the same Paris France that has said it will ignore European orders to stop expelling gypsies from the country immediately. as recently as August 2010

Lets set the record straight, I hope we never, ever treat panhandlers as they do in Paris. There is no romantic version of panhandler acceptance or treatment that I’ve found to be real. Oh, and btw. BUSKERS ARE NOT PANHANDLERS, I OFTEN TIP THEM MYSELF

In the mean time I would like to see people stop killing them with their kindness as 80% of the moneys given to panhandlers is used for Drugs alcohol or tobacco.

Sorry Gisele, paris is a bad example, you’ll find all the other countries are bad examples as well. Most of them sweeping panhandlers from their streets everytime a sporting even like the olympics occurs. Y’know one of those events that espouses it is supposed to help the very people that get brushed aside. Hopefully we can set a better example than most all else but the status quo will likely lead to the actions of Paris

Addendum - Lets assume for Gisele’s sake that she meant only to follow the remarks of Mark Bradley “URBANRAT” as written as a comment in this post.  There might be a point that a downtown visit has different expectations but I can’t see how the most minimal of restrictions such as captive audience restrictions would curtail on their choice to be panhandled. No one has proposed getting rid of panhandlers, and as we see from Mark Mckenzie’s comment, their safety is at risk with the status quo

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