In a daring new plan that hopes to protect tourists from dealing with the homeless do away with panhandling, the city is installing ten parking meters in the city's most heavily trafficked areas, donating all of the proceeds to charities that support the homeless. Rather than bearing the discomfort of engaging directly with the legions of Styrofoam cup bearing individuals that tend to frequent certain parts of the city— the horror!— people may toss their extra change directly into the meter. Convenient! "The reason people are panhandling is because there's a market for panhandling," says Gavin in response to the initiative; then-Supe Newsom also pushed Prop M back in 2003, which banned aggressive panhandling.
The orange meters were donated by the city's Department of Parking and Traffic, and will be installed along spots such as Market Street and South Van Ness. City homelessness czar Dariush Kayhan says the program is worth a try, as cities such as Detroit and Baltimore have had some success with similar parking meters. Others criticize it as yet another slapstick routine in the city's long history of tragic attempts to curb panhandling— Anyone recall Willie Brown's plan to equip homeless people with credit card machines? Swipe away that liberal guilt!
· S.F. parking meters retooled to aid homeless [SF Gate]
[Denver's version of the homeless meter courtesy Osocio]
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