EDITORIAL: Panhandlers aren’t the ones we need to be worried about
Signs on Columbia Street warn against panhandling in traffic. (Image: Mel Rothenburger)
An ArmchairMayor.ca editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
AGGRESSIVE PANHANDLING, we’re being told, is once again on the rise in downtown Kamloops.
According to a report to the City’s community safety committee, complaints have increased quite dramatically in the first quarter of the year compared to the previous year.
It’s easy to get all lathered up about panhandling, and we shouldn’t be surprised if somebody on City council proposes greater restrictions on it in the vicinity of ATMs, intersections and so on, and maybe even broaches the idea of limiting panhandling hours.
But in my view it’s not anything to get excited about. The incidence of panhandling on Victoria Street right now is as low as I’ve ever seen it.
Mel Rothenburger’s Armchair Mayor editorials appear Mondays through Thursdays on CFJC- TV. His Armchair Mayor column is published Saturdays on ArmchairMayor.ca and CFJC Today. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
No, the street racers on un-muffled vehicles are the biggest turn-off…and the ones crusing Victoria Street with the windows down listening to some awful beat…but picking on the “low hanging” fruit is much easy…pretence is a strategy!