LETTERS

Let's choose to be better in Cranston

Posted 10/19/16

To the Editor: The latest ordinance proposal from Mayor Allan Fung's office to deal with the issue of panhandling is not different enough from the previous, existing ordinance that was found by a court to be unconstitutional to avoid another costly court

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LETTERS

Let's choose to be better in Cranston

Posted

To the Editor:

The latest ordinance proposal from Mayor Allan Fung’s office to deal with the issue of panhandling is not different enough from the previous, existing ordinance that was found by a court to be unconstitutional to avoid another costly court challenge. The ACLU made this clear in a letter to the Cranston City Council before last week’s ordinance committee meeting. Yet, when several Democratic city councilors who had previously backed the proposal pulled their support, in part due to these concerns, Mayor Fung released a statement calling it a “hyper-political move” due to “political pressure from their party boss, Mike Sepe” who has publicly backed seeking long term solutions to the root cause of panhandling (poverty and homelessness).

Mr. Mayor, it’s not a “hyper-political move” to save the city money by backing off an ordinance that would almost certainly and immediately face a court challenge. It’s not a “hyper-political move” to opt for seeking compassionate and long-term solutions to the causes of panhandling rather than to criminalize, stigmatize, and sweep aside our most vulnerable citizens. Ignoring homelessness and pushing people further to the margins will not solve the problem. It will make it worse.

Poverty is not a crime, and the mayor should be ashamed at himself for trying to make it one. Doing so under the guise of “public safety” is a farce. If he truly cared about the safety of Cranstonians, Mayor Fung would be doing everything in his power to proactively get these people off the streets and back on track. He’d be backing housing-first initiatives in Cranston – a model that the state of Rhode Island adopted in 2012 with the Opening Doors Rhode Island plan. He’d be increasing funds for job training programs, mental health outreach, addiction counseling, etc. Anyone who is reduced to begging for money in the street is a victim, not a criminal. They deserve our compassion and our help. They need shelter and dignified work, not a cold shoulder and the threat of a jail cell.

Instead, Mayor Fung has advocated for the opposite path. He wants to ignore these citizens and cut them off from one of the few constitutionally-protected means they have available to make ends meet. (And perhaps push them toward even more dangerous and unsafe behavior out of desperation.) The mayor’s proposal isn’t about public safety, it isn’t about protecting the citizens. It’s about protecting some comparatively wealthy people from the uncomfortable feeling they get when forced to confront the realities of poverty in Rhode Island. Let’s choose to be better in Cranston. Let’s choose to help our fellow citizens and end homelessness in our city, rather than ignore it.

Josh Catone

Cranston

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