17-26 Resolution in Support of Putting Panhandlers to Work

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f BILL NO. 17- RESOLUTION NO. A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND,INDIANA, STRONGLY ENDORSING AND RECOMMENDING IMPLEMENTATION OF A PILOT EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM TO REDUCE PANHANDLING WITHIN THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND AND FOR AN APPROPRIATION WITHIN THE 2018 CITY BUDGET OF MONIES TO FUND SUCH PILOT PROGRAM WHEREAS,the City of South Bend, like many cities within the country, has experienced solicitation of money by people who are often having financial hardships and other types of distress from fellow citizens, particularly in warmer months within downtown South Bend and at busy street corners throughout the City; and WHEREAS, the conduct of personally soliciting money from others in public places, known as panhandling, can be uncomfortable, awkward, and unpleasant for the person being solicited as well as being a loss of dignity for the solicitor; and WHEREAS, the City of South Bend has enacted laws to regulate and reduce this conduct at Chapter 13, Article 2, Sections 25 through 27 of the South Bend Municipal Code which has helped curb aggressive panhandling but does not affect its root causes of poverty and homelessness; and WHEREAS, other cities have initiated programs to curtail panhandling such as installing bright parking style meters where visitors and residents can donate to local non-profits rather than hand cash to panhandlers, and providing gift cards and mittens to those in need; and WHEREAS, the city of Portland, Maine, population around 67,000, has started a constructive, innovative program based on a similar one in Albuquerque, New Mexico (population around 546,000) which Portland has titled the "Portland Opportunity Crew. It offers to pay panhandlers the city's minimum wage plus lunch for a six hour work day cleaning public parks and spaces, after which social services including job training are made available; and WHEREAS, the Portland Opportunity Crew program estimated cost is around $41,000.00, and Portland appropriated $25,000 in early May 2017 to fund a pilot program for 36 weeks, and the Albuquerque program began with a $50,000 budget but now receives $181,000 annually of which nearly $61,000 is donated; and WHEREAS, giving persons the opportunity to improve the community for fair compensation in lieu of incurring the stigma and discomfort of begging for money provides dignity to the individual in need, and reduces the frustration and irritation of persons being solicited for funds; and WHEREAS, The Mayor and the South Bend Common Council will soon begin the 2018 budget process and the Council requests and recommends that the Administration include