Merchants Seek to Discourage Panhandling

LAGUNA BEACH —  Merchants here are launching a campaign to encourage shoppers who are tempted to give cash to panhandlers to donate to a local charity instead.

Modeled after an effort by Santa Monica merchants, local store owners will install jars in shops and restaurants, which customers can use to deposit money they might otherwise pass to panhandlers. The money will be distributed to local service groups that help the needy, such as Episcopal Service Alliance or Friendship Shelter, said Becky Carey, who is leading the campaign for the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce.

“It just shows people there’s another way to make their money work,” she said.

This is the latest step in an ongoing effort to reverse what merchants say has been a trend toward increasingly aggressive panhandling in the downtown area.

“I think Laguna became too lax over the years, and I think we had a disproportionate amount of problems,” said Paul Andrus, who owns a downtown gift shop. “My customers were complaining, the tourists were complaining.”

In April, frustrated merchants descended on City Hall to urge the City Council to deal with the “threatening environment” downtown. The city responded by increasing police foot patrols in the area.

Andrus said the patrols have helped, but a long-term strategy is needed to keep panhandlers from annoying potential customers.

“It did make a tremendous difference,” he said. “But the problem is, because of budget constraints . . . that police presence is not going to last.”

Alice Graves, a member of the city’s Human Affairs Committee and board chairwoman of Friendship Shelter, which provides services for the homeless, said she and other committee members have discussed the problem and have no complaints about the campaign.

“I am completely against panhandling,” she said. “I will give people food, clothing. I’ve bought medicine. But I never give money.”

Graves, who has worked for years with the homeless, said she does not believe the problem is created by local street people, some of whom are also annoyed by panhandlers who they believe drive into town looking for handouts and then drive away.

“I see people panhandling downtown that I’ve never seen before,” Graves said. “They seem to be coming from different towns thinking this is a good area.”

In a similar effort, Long Beach merchants also began a “Say No to Panhandling” campaign this month. Headed by the Downtown Long Beach Associates, that program will encourage the charitably inclined to give donations directly to one of 16 city shelters.

In Laguna Beach, a committee calling itself Merchants Against Panhandling has met several times over the past six months to look for solutions to this city’s problem.

Already, many store owners have installed anti-panhandling signs in their windows. Cary said Sawdust Festival members are now looking for artists who will help design appropriate receptacles for donations. Andrus said the jars should be in place by the end of the year.

“We’re using all the facets of our community to address a problem that’s important to all our businesses and residents alike,” Carey said. “It would be great to retrain and just let our visitors know we do have a problem and we’re working on it.”