SM leaders hope marketing campaign limits handouts
CITYWIDE Keep your loose change to yourself. Those spare quarters and dollars would be put to better use almost anywhere but in the hands of a beggar.
That’s the message City Hall is trying to send to residents, business owners and visitors to Santa Monica, launching an anti-panhandling campaign in efforts to persuade people to give their money, instead, to nonprofit homeless providers like OPCC.
City Hall recently sent out a request for proposals seeking consulting firms to provide assistance in launching the new advertising campaign. The bidding process will close on Oct. 30 and a cost estimate has yet to be determined.
“I think that many people feel that panhandlers have a negative impact in Santa Monica,” said Danielle Noble, senior administrative analyst for homeless services.
The decision to launch a campaign follows a homeless study last year by the Urban Institute, which identified a need for more public education on issues such as panhandling, Noble said.
There are more than 2,000 homeless people in Santa Monica. About 80 percent of the time, those who panhandle will use the money for drugs and alcohol or another forms of substance abuse, Noble said.
“We feel giving money directly to individuals gives them resources to continue to live on the street instead of accessing services,” she said.
The new advertising campaign will include educational literature, a central communication network for stakeholders such as business owners and training materials for city staff about homelessness.
“It’s important to get the business community involved from the very beginning,” said Samantha O’Neil, the director of government affairs for the Chamber of Commerce.
City staff consulted with officials in Denver which itself launched a similar campaign a few years ago. The Downtown Denver Partnership, a business advocacy group, also launched the anti-panhandling “Give a Better Way” campaign last year, cutting down panhandling in the 16th Street outdoor mall — Denver’s version of the Third Street Promenade — by 93 percent. An estimated $4.5 million was handed out to panhandlers in Denver last year.
There were approximately 4,600 homeless individuals in the city of Denver at the inception of the campaign. That number has gradually declined every quarter, particularly on the 16th Street strip, said Sarah McClean, spokeswoman for the Downtown Denver Partnership.
Through the “Give a Better Way” campaign, the DDP has distributed literature, created a new Web site, and posted advertisements on restaurant coasters and commercials that air in downtown elevators.
“The point is not to quench generosity here, it was to redirect it,” McClean said. “Providing people with the opportunity is pretty critical.”
The Third Street Promenade is one of the busiest hubs for beggars in Santa Monica, some panhandlers holding signs asking for cheeseburgers, others quietly asking for money from those who walk by.
Sally Bocques, a Briton who has lived in Playa del Rey for the past few months while her husband is working temporarily in Los Angeles, recently gave $20 to a disabled homeless veteran. This may be a little higher than usual, but illustrates that locals are generous to those in need.
With the large number of homeless people begging for money in Santa Monica, it almost appears as though there are no social service providers, she said.
“I’d rather know that the money is being used properly and not for drinking and drugs,” Bocques said. “I gave the guy money because he was so severely disabled and I felt bad.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 22, 2007. Read the original PDF.