From the S.F. Bay Guardian, 6/22/94, page 13 col. 2

(Berkeley)
COMPROMISE ON BEGGING
Council OKs Plan That Ties Crackdown to New Services
by Steve Stallone


After months of rancorous debate, the Berkeley City Council approved June 
14 a preliminary version of its anti-panhandling ordinance that would 
link the crackdown to the provision of services for the city's down-and-out.

The ordinance, presented by interim mayor Jeffrey Leiter, came from a 
special task force of local merchants and homeless-service providers. It 
would prohibit sitting, lying down or soliciting funds within six feet of 
building frontage in commercial areas between 6 a.m. and midnight; 
soliciting funds after dark in public places, within 25 feet of an ATM, 
or from people entering or exiting cars; aggressive or intimidating 
behavior such as blocking, following, hounding, threatening, verbally 
abusing, touching or assaulting; and repeated solicitation.

But in a compromise with advocates for the homeless, none of these 
prohibitions would take effect until the council certifies that a set of 
social services is in place. The services are projected to be ready by 
Dec. 1, 1994. They include a daytime multiservice center in the downtown 
or Telegraph areas of Berkeley; a pilot program to inform people of 
inappropriate behavior; the expansion of the Berkeley Cares program as an 
alternative to panhandling; and the development of a training program for 
all city mental-health and homeless-service staff and UC and Berkeley police.

"We must not proscribe behavior until alternatives to that behavior are 
available," Leiter said.

The proposal will go to the city's Police Review Commission, Mental 
Health Advisory Board, and the Independent Task Force on Homelessness for 
review. The public's written comments are being solicited before it 
returns to the council for a vote on July 19.

While the council unanimously supported the services, protesters and two 
City Council members objected to the antipanhandling provisions. 
Councilmember Dona Spring argued that they were overly broad, and 
requested that the council delay action for two weeks so the public could 
review and comment on them. Councilmember Maudelle Shirek, objecting to 
trading civil rights for services, read an open letter from Osha Neumann, 
a civil-rights lawyer and former chair of the Berkeley Police Review 
Commission.

"Packaging repressive legislation with social services is clever 
politics, but we should not allow ourselves to be confused. A person's 
right to engage in harmless activities on a public sidewalk is not 
contingent on whether or not he or she has access to a detox or 
multiservice center," Neumann's letter read.


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