Sioux Falls City Councilor Starr said it best yesterday at the city council informational meeting, if you want to help the homeless, give your donations to the organizations that help them with housing and food, there are several in Sioux Falls. But please, please, stop giving to the panhandlers.
I think if the city council wants to tackle this problem, they need to put an ordinance in place that fines people who give them money directly. Not sure what that fine should be, but something that makes them think about what they are doing.
As someone who only lives a couple of blocks away from 14th and Cliff, a real trouble area, I have watched them proceed into traffic and beat down people while they were highly intoxicated. Sometimes falling into the street and dancing in oncoming traffic. Will it take an innocent motorist mowing one of them down to seriously look at this problem? Think about it.
If the city council wants to fix and stop people from giving these folks booze money, they need to implement fines on those who enable it. As the Chief of Police said, citing the panhandlers isn’t working. He is right. Shut off the faucet, fine those who turn on the water. If you care, direct your giving to the fine charities in town that help these people crawl out of addiction and homelessness because what you are doing now isn’t working.
I give bottled water and an energy bar. I’ll not give money. I’d contribute to charities but half what you give goes toward exorbitant salaries, benefits, and vacation conventions. The United Way is probably worst. It used to be that The Banquet put all funds into welfare. Then, they built a multimillion dollar facility in a prime commercial office park. It’s nowhere near the impoverished northeast side of town and there’s no bus service.
If you want to give money, there are a few churches that have weekly meals. The city council will not let them put out signs but the homeless seem to find when and where.
Huether used to arrest the homeless. They had a choice of a ride to the city limits or jail. They chose jail. It was 3 squares and a cot. Unfortunately, the county pays for the jail. They also have social assistance while the city doesn’t. Comes a time when the city should be defunded from sales tax revenue. It’s time for a reset. How about combine city and county government and eliminate city oligarchy?
Like my late father used to say: “Before Reagan, you never saw them.”
when i saw neitzert on the news report, i thought maybe he was panhandling for legal fees. his panhandling is a little more “high-tech.”