Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelTown
I would support a bylaw restricting panhandling. We all know it’s all about the image. Having a guys with dreadlocks, warts, black teeth, stinks hanging along King St isn’t exactly a nice cozy image for downtown Hamilton.
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I take a real offense to that statement. You don't know how close everyone is from falling through the cracks, marriage/family breakups, kids leaving abusive situations, people with mental illness and don't get treatment/drugs, addiction problems.
These are people.... humans... citizens. Do you actually think this how they want to live? Do we collect them in one area? Just to keep them out of view? SO the world can say, "I'm moving to Hamilton, in fact I'm moving my whole head office there because I didn't see any homeless people on tv"
Yes portraying an image is one thing. But when people discover that 'image', 'brand' was a lie, it is even more damaging then the truthful image.. as bad as that may be.
What's that saying?... a society is judged by how it treats its poor, elderly and disabled. Didn't the China dictatorship do something similar before the Olympics.
I'm going to give more money to panhandlers now. in fact when I go to Jackson Square today I'm buying a mickey of run and giving it along with $5 to the first homeless person I see on York and saying Merry Christmas. And I'll do that every week until xmas.