Dealing with panhandlers in Peoria in 2021


As someone who has always enjoyed what I call "urban hiking", I've spent a lot of time around panhandlers, which just means people who are out in public asking for money. And if you're puzzled about what to do with panhandlers, I think that I can help. At least if you're in Peoria, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) in 2021.

Let's be clear here, asking for money out in public isn't illegal in Peoria. Think about it, if it was, the Salvation Army wouldn't be allowed to ask for donations in front of stores during the holidays. And since you're probably already wondering it, no, being homeless or being a transient isn't illegal either. Well, not in Peoria, Arizona, where I spend most of my time pedaling around nowadays. These things are controlled by the local laws, and are enforced by the City of Peoria police. But if you're considering panhandling, or being a transient, you'd be wise to know that there are several things that can get you in trouble, including being aggressive.

When I lived in Santa Barbara, California in the 1980s, I remember that the panhandlers could often be very aggressive. They would lunge at people who were trying to go into a restaurant, or shout taunts, or sometimes just block the sidewalk. But I rarely went to restaurants, I was usually down by the beach, walking my neighbor's dog. And the panhandlers would look up at me (they were usually sitting leaning against palm trees), ask for spare change, and I learned to acknowledge them, say "No, thank you" and walk on.

Over the past couple of years I've seen more transient people in Peoria. I say good morning to them and pedal on. There's one guy in particular, who always has his shopping cart and a big dog. The dog is on a leash, and if they're blocking the sidewalk, they move out of the way. I have no idea what's going on with them, but it's a free country, and as long as they're not breaking any laws I don't see a problem.

I spoke to a young man out in front of the QT a couple of days ago who described himself as homeless, and very much looked the part. It was a hot day, but he was wearing a wool cap, and I could tell by the way he wore his backpack that it contained stuff that was valuable to him. He didn't ask me for any money, but he let me look at the little sign that he'd made that said "Homeless, donations appreciated" (or something like that). I offered to show him where he could go to get help, and food, at a local non-denominational church, but he politely refused, and we parted on good terms.

I used to see a lot of transient people when I lived in California, and while most of them were what we traditionally think of as "homeless", some were just traveling around, seeing the world, rejecting the rat-race. I would try to see the world through their eyes, but I've always wanted my comfort too much to ever be that free. And I knew that they were human, just like me, and wanted to live their life on their own terms, not hurt anybody, and not get in trouble with the law.
If you like pictures of old-time Phoenix, please become a member of History Adventuring on Patreon. I share a LOT of cool old photos there, copyright-free, with no advertising. Your support makes it happen! Thank you!

Click here to become a Patron!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why cars in the future won't need stop signs, red lights, or stripes on the road

Image
Time-travel with me into the future. Where we're going, we'll still need roads, but our cars won't need the kind of stuff that human drivers need, like stop signs, or stuff painted on the road. And if you're already panicking that computers will take over, don't worry, they already have. The fact that you're reading this right now combines so much amazing computing power that it would have been unthinkable to anyone in the 1960s, or '70s, when I was a kid. Speaking of being in the geriatric age group, if you're like me or older, you took a lot of pride in knowing the rules of the road, such as what to do at a stop sign if four cars approach at the same time, the difference between a "yield" sign and a "merge" sign, or maybe how to parallel park. But calm down there old-timer, that type of knowledge will just be as quaint as how to use a horse and buggy is nowadays. Sorry! The best way to picture how traffic will flow in the future is ...
Read more

Watching a neighborhood grow and change in Phoenix, Arizona

Image
I stopped to take a closer look yesterday at where the old Circle K had been in my neighborhood, which is a suburb of Phoenix. And it's got me to thinking about how much Phoenix grows and changes over the years, and how people feel about it. This particular neighborhood was built in the mid 1980s, when there had been only a smattering of houses and a community college (Glendale Community College, built in 1965). There are some houses that I can tell are from the 1970s, and a few even older, but what happened here is that the neighborhood suddenly appeared in 1985 or thereabouts. There are three shopping centers on the corner of 67th Avenue and Peoria - the one in the photo is called "Peoria Station", and it was designed to kinda look like a train station. The other three are called Westporte Village, Brittany Square, and Crossroads Plaza. I've lived in this neighborhood for a very long time, and no one ever uses those names, even though the signs are still up. But the...
Read more

Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?

Image
As someone who has been interested in history since I was a little kid, I've always asked the most childish questions, and quite often never got an answer. As a kid, I was told to run along and play, and don't bother the grownups, so I set my questions aside to work on when I myself became a grownup. But some questions I really haven't found a satisfactory answer for, and get thrown away as I find myself learning the more important stuff. I now understand the grownups, but the kid in me still has childish questions like "Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?" The first question to ask is whether a particular style (whether hair, clothing, etc.) was in style at the time. The moustache was, and you can Google a photo of Charlie Chaplin, who wore the same style of moustache at the time, and quite stylishly. The wide lapels were in style in the 1930s, as was were the tall shirt collars and small ties. But the haircut wasn't - it's just awful. Me...
Read more