Just wondering -- if there were no panhandlers, then to whom were the idiots giving money?
One of those conundrums, I guess -- which came first, the panhandler or the idiot?
The first time I saw a panhandler in my home town was when I was twelve or so, before that I had only seen them in San Francisco, Seattle and other major metropolitan areas. Apparently there wasn't much of a “market” for what he was offering and HE WENT AWAY - probably to San Francisco. For the next five years or so I saw no panhandling or panhandlers.
Then around the age of 25 or so, when I would visit, I started to see a couple of them hanging around our little ‘downtown’. People were giving them spare change for their tattoos and piercings.
Now, over a decade later, I see a dozen of them shuffling around downtown. People are giving them money - so they continue to panhandle in my small home town. If people didn't give them money - hopefully they would GO AWAY!
Back to the major metropolitan areas where the modern day “urban outdoors-man” belongs!