[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?

[adm5]

I remember in N. Houston several years back (45 & 1960 for all you H-towners), there was this one street begger who had a sign that read:

"Hell, I'm not gonna lie. Need money for beer."

And the guy was making a killing.

[spikeytx86]

"giving" them money in some cases may be a stretch. As a former houstonite there were many a times downtown around the greyhound station where I would be cornered inside a bus enclosure by a rather large deranged gentleman who "begged" me for money while his puss filled eye twitched and he screamed at me. Since I did not want to die a gruesome death that night I gave him a buck. This is not to uncommon and the reason these laws are enacted. Were not talking about guys going "buddy can ya spear a dime" many times there tantamount to being mugged.