Bans on giving to homeless

[Giant Saguaro]

One city that banned feeding the homeless was Las Vegas. http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=17732

Strange that in a city where prostitution and gambling are legal, its illegal to feed the homeless. Sounds convoluted to me.

Prostitution is just tolerated in Vegas, but still.

Homeless people are easy to pick on.  No one likes them, they have no political voice, and they exist outside of our normal standards of living.  Unfortunately, as politicians discovered, homeless people do not have much money.  Thus, no one likes to charge them with crimes because they cannot pay the fines and become a strain on the system in jail.  So, in an attempt to harass homeless people away from their city, politicians now seem to be targetting people who give a helping hand to the bottom of society.

Concur with the inconsistency that David S sees and also well said, Lunar.

I also think in the case of Vegas - a lot of us on here have probably been to Vegas, who are they trying to attract? Just go there and look around. People with money to spend, of course. Homeless people detract from that big time. That's the last thing a city like Vegas wants people to see as they're coming and going, spending, and having a terrific time. They don't want to think they're sharing space with homeless people, and I'll admit the homeless situation is not a particularly nice thing to see, but there's also something psychological with it, I have read. Seeing down-trodden people and stuff puts a hamper on the free-wheeling mindset, I've read. So of course Vegas is acting in its best interest only.

A real good example of the former is a buddy of mine tried to sell a ranch a while back and move somewhere with less upkeep and that wasn't so isolated and it was really interesting, as beautiful a location as it was in, the number / volume of buyers that walked away because there was some old farmer down the road about a couple miles with a partial junkyard was staggering. The buyers didn't want people they'd be entertaining to see it on the way in. I thought he'd sell the place right away, and if it wasn't for the cluttered up quasi farm down the road he and his wife would have.

In all honesty, I don't walk around handing out money to people when I visit some place, but to me it's the idea and principle behind all this. Blatantly un-American, I think.

[??????????]

I can see times when a law like this would be necessary. Their have been many cases (both stories I've read and what I've dealt with) where the homeless become very "pushy" and agressive with people who don't want to give them money. Also, many times they congregate in certain areas of cities which combined with aggressive activity is definately a safety threat to other citizens and tourists of a city. I wouldn't necessarily say they should be thrown in jail, perhaps simply "chased off" by the police or perhaps taken to the local shelter. I personally don't believe that people who give to the homeless deserve any punishment as it's their money and their free will to give money to whomever they want to.

[Nym90]

These laws are ridiculous. Clearly someone should be able to give their money to whomever they choose. The homeless should only get in trouble with the law if they are harassing or otherwise threatening people with their panhandling, otherwise they have every right to ask.

[Dr. Cynic]

A little bit of charity goes a long way. This reminds me of when the All-Star Game came here to Pittsburgh, Mayor O'Connor wanted all of the homeless
corralled into the convention center, and being provided a hot meal.

It could also be said that it was a publicity thing to hide the homeless from the influx of people who came here.

But even still, I think that law is rediculous and unconstitutional. It's my choice who I give my money to, and the endless amount of things I gamble on. It's my money, and I'll do as I will with it.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

A little bit of charity goes a long way. This reminds me of when the All-Star Game came here to Pittsburgh, Mayor O'Connor wanted all of the homeless
corralled into the convention center, and being provided a hot meal.

It could also be said that it was a publicity thing to hide the homeless from the influx of people who came here.

But even still, I think that law is rediculous and unconstitutional. It's my choice who I give my money to, and the endless amount of things I gamble on. It's my money, and I'll do as I will with it.

Yes our Detroit's wonderful Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick () was so generous for the Superbowl--he let all of the homeless into shelters and get a meal, and when everybody left back to their home cities, he kicked the homeless back out onto the street--since nobody was around anymore to see Det. as it really is--how compassionate Mr. Mayor.