Despite laws, panhandlers flourish in ABQ

A Panhandler surprised me on Central & Eubank last week...He came up to me, and said" Do you have any change you can spare, and I'll tell you the truth - I am going to get a bottle of vodka when I get enough money" I gave him a couple bucks just for being honest.

Stop giving cash to the people on the street panhandling. Give instead to the Storehouse, Joy Junction or the Roadrunner food bank. Then, your hard-earned cash will go to food or other necessities that people need to survive.

Sunny Delight wrote:

Stop giving cash to the people on the street panhandling. Give instead to the Storehouse, Joy Junction or the Roadrunner food bank. Then, your hard-earned cash will go to food or other necessities that people need to survive.

good point.

food pantries are running bare and the last thing a person should do with their charity is support some bum's chemical addiction. donate to organizations that help people empower themselves and provide them the necessities.

Let them do for themselves or move on.

Agreed, if we keep giving like this they will keep begging. As long as they are not agressive, I could care less...

Please! Don't feed the bears!!

Fantastic "investigation," right up there with White-hat Marty and the abused APD's "crack down" on cell phones, smokers, seat belts, parking, red light cameras and all the sorry Rest Of It. How about investigating Illegals, gangs, drug dealers, murderers of 58 year old female security guards, and this idiot Murdoch? ABQ is a backwoods, dusty, inbred cesspool of Good Old Boys, graft, corruption, cactus-hugging, crime-ignoring power hungry politicians and rampant spetic nepotism.

...and that should be "septic," as in
sep·tic
Pronunciation:
\ˈsep-tik\

Latin septicus, from Greek sēptikos, from sēpein to putrefy
1: of, relating to, or causing putrefaction
2: relating to, involving, caused by, or affected with sepsis <septic patients>

I give them the toll free number for Obama's transition team. Hey, he promised.

I remember a few years back I was at the grocery store on my way back to my truck. I had spent every cent buying food for my kids and was putting the bags in the bed when a panhandler walked up and gave me the old spiel,

"Say buddy I'm really hungry, do you think you could lend me a couple of dollars so I can get something to eat"?
"Sorry I don't have a couple of dollars but I can do you one better"!
There on the top of one bag was a big can of beef stew, I tossed that to him he looked at it then threw it back saying, "What the hell is this? I asked for a couple of bucks not your crappy charity"!

Needless to say that was the end of my kind heartiness towards panhandlers...

I was at the red light just off I-40 west and 6th street. Two panhandlers got into a fight over the intersection and started throwing rocks at each other, using motorist’s cars as cover.

My favorite is the gas can scam. I've been seeing a lot of these dirt bags walking around with a gas can, "I'm from out of town and stranded." Yeah right. One of these losers actually knocked on a co-workers door at 11pm asking for money!

When I see them coming, I take the pre-emptive strike. I walk up to them and say, "Can I get a quarter?" It baffles them.

I grew up in a small town outside St. Louis. If a panhandler came around he was escorted outside the city limits in a police car. I guess it would be too much to ask APD to actually enforce the law.

DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. MAYBE THEY WILL GO AWAY.

Tom Jefferson wrote:

Fantastic "investigation," right up there with White-hat Marty and the abused APD's "crack down" on cell phones, smokers, seat belts, parking, red light cameras and all the sorry Rest Of It. How about investigating Illegals, gangs, drug dealers, murderers of 58 year old female security guards, and this idiot Murdoch? ABQ is a backwoods, dusty, inbred cesspool of Good Old Boys, graft, corruption, cactus-hugging, crime-ignoring power hungry politicians and rampant spetic nepotism.

I agree with your evaluation of the inbred cesspool, with regard to the polititians and administration, however leave the cops out of this. Every news article which you read about a "crackdown on cell phones, smokers, seat belts, parking, red light cameras and all the sorry Rest Of It" is simply lip service by the Chief to answer some political whinings or respond to a news article. APD Officers spend their days trying to keep the calls for service answered. What the officers on the street actually do does not reflect what the Chief sets as his public "priorities". APD has a fantastic arrest rate and does put those drug dealers, murderers, and gang members behind bars, but unfortunately they only spend a few hours there. Please blame the Judges at court and the Metropolitan Detention Center for letting those miscreants back out on the streets. There have been numerous high profile cases involving repeat offenders who had served truncated sentences because "the jails are too full". Those cases are only the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of criminals roaming the streets around Albuquerque who have dozens of arrests each year for robberies, burglaries, drug trafficking, and other "lower profile" crimes who are being allowed back on the streets to re-victimize the citizens of Albuquerque. These criminals know that Bernalillo County/ Albuquerque's court and detention system is a joke. I have personally arrested the same person 2 times in 3 days for auto burglary. Numerous times I have arrested the same people multiple times within a work week for felony crimes and have found them to be back on the street within 24 to 48 hours as part of the "Community Custody Program" which the courts and MDC use to free up space in the jails. It is a proven fact that career criminals climb the "ladder" of crime, with each crime becoming progressively worse. If you look at the criminal history of your violent offenders you will see a progression from misdemeanor offenses to non violent felonies to violent felonies. This county and state believe in rehabilitation in lieu of incarceration.....however, rehabilitation only works if the subject is willing to change.

Max wrote:

A Panhandler surprised me on Central & Eubank last week...He came up to me, and said" Do you have any change you can spare, and I'll tell you the truth - I am going to get a bottle of vodka when I get enough money" I gave him a couple bucks just for being honest.

You're stupid, thanks for promoting the bad habits of these idiots on our streets! I can't stand these beggars, whether or not they have a valid cause. McD's is always hiring and so is WalMart, go work like every other honest citizen does.

Dave Whitefeather wrote:

I remember a few years back I was at the grocery store on my way back to my truck. I had spent every cent buying food for my kids and was putting the bags in the bed when a panhandler walked up and gave me the old spiel,
"Say buddy I'm really hungry, do you think you could lend me a couple of dollars so I can get something to eat"?
"Sorry I don't have a couple of dollars but I can do you one better"!
There on the top of one bag was a big can of beef stew, I tossed that to him he looked at it then threw it back saying, "What the hell is this? I asked for a couple of bucks not your crappy charity"!
Needless to say that was the end of my kind heartiness towards panhandlers...

This is a fine example as to why all of you that help a beggar are doing no justice to our city.

BEGGARS? panhandlers, how about LAZY PEOPLE?

Take a really good look beyond their intentional dirty clothes and look at their SKIN, it is CLEAN like they took a shower every morning, a true beggar would stink of bodily fluids, not one of them stink.

When they approach I do two things, one say sorry I have no money and that is why I work and two ask them to go home to their relatives.

I refuse to even give them a bottle of water anymore.

And if you pay extra attention it is the same ones working the same two or three locations all the time, they switch back and forth.

I have never seen a police car run them off, not once but it is illegal to be on state property begging, the dirt on the offramps is state property, grounds for arrest but don't arrest them, send them out of the city.

Why do I say don't arrest them, FREE FOOD, WARM BED and FREE MEDICAL.

The real homeless know where to go for food and shelter.

Not all panhandlers are using the money they get for that; but then, the folks at KOB must never have been homeless.

That said, am I the only one who has noticed that way too many panhandlers on Oak between Central and MLK use the exact same sign? They are all fairly young, too. My guess would be they are part of a sociology or social psychology class at UNM.

Actually, the idea, when one spends a minute thinking about it, is rather interesting.

I just look at them in Albuquerque. If that pan handling happened over in Farmington. The police would throw him or her in jail. Someone would take him or her to the rez, to heard sheep, chop wood, haul water, pick pinons. Next time I'll look for the female pan handler. Check her out.

A degree in computers and he still can't find a job? Our economy is either very much in the toilet or there is some other issue involved in the man's ability to hold a job. With computer skills you'd think there are some jobs available for someone motivated to clean up, keep a regular work schedule and do the job required.

Once you've accepted that living in your SUV is a viable alternative, it's hard to make the push to get your butt back out in the work force again, I suppose.

I sure do miss the ol "My water pump's out, can you spare $5?" routine...

When I lived in San Francisco, it was like the beggars had more rights than I did as a tax payer. And it was a known fact that there were cadres of beggars who would work the entire city and be living in a nice flat sharing space and living sweet in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

Begging is a lifestyle. If you truly want to not be dependent on the charity of strangers, there are ways to earn money to pay for your immediate needs. If people have a dire need, there are public agencies which are set up to help, temporarily, in crisis situations. But this gives the needy the breathing room they need to collect their thoughts and plans and start out on a new life.

When you give money to beggars, you are supporting what they are doing. Stop doing it and they will go away or be forced to find some other method of survival. The instinct is there, but why should they do anything else as long as they are getting by with begging?