[conservative in nyc]

For what it's worth.

There's a lot of liberal crap spewed by the author and the homeless advocates he interviewed in this article. The squeegee men and aggressive panhandlers are pretty much off of the streets here - and as the article said, many had criminal records to begin with. That some had cases against them thrown out doesn't mean the law was wrong - murder suspects go free every day, yet no one implies that means there should be no law against murder. Despite the protestation of homeless advocates (who get more funding if there are more homeless), there definitely are many fewer aggressive panhandlers than there were before Giuliani took office. Toronto should follow New York City's lead.

[conservative in nyc]

Ping.

[Beagle8U]

You can't just go after the beggars and street people, you have to solve the problems that cause them to beg.

You need to arrest anyone that gives them money too!

If nobody gave them spare change they would be wasting their time and stop.

Make it a statewide law though so they didn't just move to another city.
Shoot! maybe they would move to Toronto?

[ThomasThomas]

There was panhandler I met downtown Los Angeles, I asked him why he didn't get a job? He said that, His wife divorced him and got a big judgment and the house. This is because she never had worked a day in her life. They had no kids so he quite his job as a CPA lived under a freeway overpass. His story is all I know.

He did not appear to be doing drugs, Is this man crazy?

[kellynch]

There do seem to be more during the Bloomberg administration than there were during the Giuliani administration though.

[Grig]

"But there's also the question of what to do about people like Paula Hedley, 38, who has been revealed to wrap herself in filthy blankets as she begs tearfully for change along upscale Fifth Avenue all before it's time to slip behind a telephone booth to change into her clean jogging wear at the end of the day, and return to her 123rd Street home."

Remember Troonto's "shaky lady" who was in the news a few years ago?

[NZerFromHK]

Wasn't it only about 10 years ago when the Canadian establishment boasted that Toronto is the New York run by Swiss, a much more orderly and caring place yada yada, and that New York should "look north" for solutions?

[goldstategop]

Many pandhandlers aren't poor. They're middle class children that think being deceitful about their status is the way to make a good living. By playing the victim. After all, any good liberal should approve of the lifestyle.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus