Anti-panhandling seminar brings
together Oak Park and Austin
 

By ERIC LINDEN

"Just about every day I hear complaints from people about panhandling,"
Oak Park Police Officer Sean O'Shea said at the forum on Feb. 17 at Oak
Park village hall. The seminar was designed for businesses and residents
of Oak Park and the adjacent Chicago community of Austin to better be,
as the seminar's title said, "Dealing with the Problems of Panhandling
and Loitering."

"We're not here to tell you what to do. We just want to give you some
ideas," said Judy Dever, an assistant state's attorney and an organizer
of the panhandling seminar. Dever is the misdemeanor assistant with the
Cook County State's Attorney's Community Prosecutions Division, which
serves both Oak Park and Austin from a storefront at 4 Chicago Ave.
Dealing with panhandlers is part of the agency's mission to deal with
so-called quality of life issues that get lesser attention from an
overloaded court system.

The increasing activity of panhandling in Oak Park and Austin also was
backed up by, among others, Police Officer Charles Johnson of Austin's
15th Police District and Oak Park Officer Edward Polfus, who walks the
beat in The Avenue business district at and near Oak Park Avenue and
Lake Street in Oak Park.

The Oak Park officers attending said they routinely issue so-called
P-tickets for panhandling and loitering, but those tickets for ordinance
violations do not call for criminal penalties. So, O'Shea said, officers
recently have begun to issue a "quasi-criminal complaint" that then can
be followed up with an arrest warrant, which can result in panhandlers
brought into the police station to face charges.

"I prefer to inconvenience them," said Chicago Officer Johnson about his
treatment of panhandlers in Austin. Johnson, who patrols the business
area in Austin on Madison Street from Cicero Avenue at 4800 West to the
Austin Boulevard border with Oak Park at 6000 West, said he mainly acts
in the same way as Oak Park officers by bringing in chronic panhandlers
whenever legally possible.

"It seems to be a big problem in both (the Oak Park and Austin) areas,"
said Dever. The two-hour forum in Oak Park was attended by business
people from Oak Park, Austin and River Forest and they heard from law
enforcement, community, social service and government people on the
panel. The "ideas" for addressing the panhandling situation included the
following:

NEVER GIVE MONEY TO PANHANDLERS
That message was given by all the officials, who instead recommended
that panhandlers be referred to various social service agencies. Hand
cards listing the various agencies are available from police, village
hall and other agencies.

PLACE SIGNS IN THE WINDOWS OF BUSINESSES
Dever of the State's Attorney's office in Oak Park  said window signs
discouraging panhandling also are available free of charge. To assist in
the anti-panhandling efforts, Dever said that Offset Press, 827 Madison
St. in Oak Park, has offered to print up a number of the window signs at
no charge.

REMOVE PRODUCTS THAT ARE POPULAR WITH PANDHANDLERS
Bonnie Jordan, who owns and operates two liquor stores in the Austin
neighborhood, said panhandling and other inappropriate behavior has been
reduced significantly after the halting for sale of products that are
popular with panhandlers and, for instance, drug users. Cups used to
share liquor and other products were suggested for removal from the
shelves of not just liquor stores but all retail shops.

TESTIFY IN COURT WHEN IT'S CALLED FOR
Neera Walsh, who heads the felony section of the State's Attorney's
office in Oak Park, said officials have become more successful recently
in gaining convictions of prosecuted panhandlers. She and other
officials urged businesses and residents who file panhandling complaints
to appear in court to assist in prosecution of the cases. Without
testimony, the court action will not proceed and with it, will greatly
enhance the chances of conviction.

"Judges are political animals, too. They have to run for election and
they don't want to disappoint their constituents," Walsh said.

Oak Park Village Attorney Raymond Heise predicted that he and other Oak
Park officials would introduce by spring a new anti-panhandling
ordinance that they have been working on since December. Heise said the
ordinance to be recommended to the village board for passage would crack
down on the "time, place and manner" of panhandling in Oak Park.

"You can't flat-out ban panhandling, period. The courts won't allow you
to do that" for first amendment reasons, Heise said. "But you can
regulate with regard to time, place and manner."

Heise and others on the panel also cautioned businesses and residents to
avoid the frequent occurrence of blaming panhandling on the PADS
shelters for homeless people that exist in the fall and winter at
various religious congregations in Oak Park. The law enforcement
officials also pointed out that more than a few of the panhandlers in
the area are professionals who actually make a living at the practice.

"What you can't do is equate homelessness with panhandling," Heise said.
He and other officials said that, while some homeless people using PADS
shelters do panhandle and loiter, to think all of the homeless panhandle
is a mistake.

Business representatives attending the panhandling forum ranged from Lou
Fabbri from Mar Lac Banquets at 104 S. Marion St. and the South Marion
Business Association in Oak Park; Donna Ogden-Jermal, executive director
of Downtown Oak Park; and Tim Hague, vice president of the Taxman
Corporation and representing River Forest Town Center that the Taxman
firm developed in cooperation with River Forest village government.