HOSPITALITY CENTERS PROPOSED TO HELP VALLEY'S PANHANDLERS.Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer While a new city law cracks down on aggressive panhandlers, a San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. coalition hopes to send beggars a kinder, gentler message. The San Fernando Valley Homeless Coalition wants to welcome panhandlers to what it calls hospitality centers, open 24 hours a day and offering food, showers and counseling for substance-abuse and mental-health problems. Instead of reporting aggressive or unruly panhandlers to the police, local businesses and residents would be able to call the center's emergency response team, which would attempt to placate pla·cate tr.v. pla·cat·ed, pla·cat·ing, pla·cates To allay the anger of, especially by making concessions; appease. See Synonyms at pacify. the beggars. ``There are already laws on the books against aggressive panhandling,'' said John Horn, chairman of the coalition, which is made up of more than 80 nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. social service agencies. ``We felt a hospitality center would be, if not the entire solution, at least one that we felt would work effectively to solve the problem.'' The new law makes it a misdemeanor for panhandlers to touch people, block their path or use profane PROFANE. That which has not been consecrated. By a profane place is understood one which is neither sacred, nor sanctified, nor religious. Dig. 11, 7, 2, 4. Vide Things. language when seeking handouts. The ordinance A law, statute, or regulation enacted by a Municipal Corporation. An ordinance is a law passed by a municipal government. A municipality, such as a city, town, village, or borough, is a political subdivision of a state within which a municipal corporation has been also prohibits begging at ATM machines (Automatic Teller Machine machine) A banking terminal that accepts deposits and dispenses cash. ATMs are activated by inserting a cash or credit card that contains the user's account number and PIN on a magnetic stripe. ; asking motorists for money; or soliciting people in lines at movie theaters, buses, trains or public buildings. It is expected to take effect 30 days from Tuesday, when Riordan is scheduled to sign it. The hospitality centers and teams would give panhandlers a way to get off the streets. There is one problem: a lack of money. What the coalition has found so far is that the centers don't qualify for federal Housing and Urban Development grants because they would not provide long-term housing. The coalition has looked into whether restaurants and businesses could help raise money by collecting donations. But the California Restaurant Association rejected the proposal and questioned whether collecting this money would create a bureaucratic bu·reau·crat n. 1. An official of a bureaucracy. 2. An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure. bu headache. There is one last hope. The Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. City Council's Public Safety Committee is expected to present a report Wednesday outlining guidelines for a six-month study on how the city can better address homeless issues. The study was approved as part of the ordinance. The report contains several recommendations, including a fund-raising campaign Noun 1. fund-raising campaign - a campaign to raise money for some cause fund-raising drive, fund-raising effort crusade, campaign, cause, drive, effort, movement - a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end; "he supported to pay for such services as the coalition's mobile homeless outreach teams. Councilwoman Laura Chick, chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee, already has pledged support for the hospitality centers, said her planning deputy, Ken Bernstein. ``While she was supportive of that ordinance, she did not view it as a comprehensive solution to the problem of panhandling,'' Bernstein said. ``Instead of sending the police to round up homeless people, which is ineffectual because they are back on streets panhandling right away, the goal is to have trained outreach people who know how to reach the homeless in mobile teams.'' The council's Housing and Community Redevelopment Committee is scheduled to review the report Wednesday. |
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