4761-19 Panhandling Resolution - Laserfiche WebLink

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�$our :9 \C) U r O % III * 4.11. r ▪ 86S .. SUBSTITUTE BILL NO. 19-14 RESOLUTION NO. 4761-19 A SECOND RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, (PREVIOUSLY RESOLUTION 4637-17)AGAIN STRONGLY ENDORSING AND RECOMMENDING A STUDY FOR A PILOT EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM TO REDUCE PANHANDLING WITHIN THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND • 9firamii, on June 12, 2017, the South Bend Common Council passed Resolution No. 4637-17, strongly endorsing and recommending implementation of a pilot employment program to reduce panhandling within the City of South Bend and requesting funding within the 2018 City of South Bend's Budget for such a pilot program; and 9 the purpose of that Resolution was to reduce the practice of personally soliciting money from others in public places, known as panhandling, which can be uncomfortable, awkward and unpleasant for the person being solicited as well as being a loss of dignity for the solicitor; and the Mayor of South Bend approved the resolution on June 19, 2017; and 91rwasi, the recommended pilot program was not implemented as requested by Resolution 4637-17; and the City Administration of Indianapolis, under Mayor Joe Hogsett, has this year of 2019, seized the opportunity to become a national leader and the first city in Indiana to have the City Administration propose funding, in the approximate amount of$150,000, to implement a similar program to be paid from funds received from extending parking meter times; and G, South Bend's prior Resolution acknowledged programs in other cities to curtail panhandling such as installing bright parking style meters where visitors and residents can donate to local non-profits rather than handing cash to panhandlers or providing gift cards and mittens to those in need; and OILmi, South Bend's prior Resolution also acknowledged programs initiated in Portland, Maine and Albuquerque,New Mexico,the same programs upon which the Indianapolis proposal is based,which offer to pay panhandlers the city's minimum wage plus lunch for a six(6)-hour work day maintaining public parks and spaces, after which social services and job training are made available; and Woo* the estimated cost for the Portland Opportunity Crew during its first year in 2017 was $41,000 with an initial appropriation from the City of$25,000 in May 2017, to fund a pilot program for thirty-six (36). weeks ; and during the pilot phase, crews in Portland picked up three-hundred ten (310) bags of trash and collected two-hundred fourteen(214) hypodermic needles; and 4 a similar program in Albuquerque called"There's a Better Way"began with a budget of$50,000 and in its first two (2) years has provided 4,240 day jobs,housed twenty-one(21)homeless residents; connected four-hundred fourteen(414)people with additional work and provided mental health or substance abuse ' services to three-hundred fifty-five(355)people; and ( both programs are now being funded in large part through donations; and OACAntad, other cities that have enacted or are considering similar programs include Chicago, Dallas, Lexington, KY, Spokane, Tucson, Portland OR, Denver, Moreno Valley, CA, Austin, Amarillo TX, Ocean Springs, MS and Indianapolis, IN; and G it is now past time for the City of South Bend to actively explore and fund a similar pilot program which: will give people the opportunity to improve the community for fair compensation instead of incurring the