Solicitors known to monopolize Third Street Promenade benches
THIRD STREET PROMENADE Panhandlers who conduct their businesses from the comfort of a bench here could soon be asked to terminate their financial gathering activities.
The City Council is considering banning solicitation from all benches located on the Third Street Promenade and stretches of Santa Monica Boulevard and Broadway, an attempt to free-up resting areas that can be monopolized by individuals seeking donations.
The first reading of a proposed ordinance — the phase in which the topic is open to public debate — was endorsed by the council last week, setting up final adoption at a future meeting.
The problem was first identified by the Santa Monica Police Department and Bayside District Corp., the private-public management company that oversees Downtown, noticing panhandlers occupying the same benches for long periods of time.
One of the biggest draws in the city, the promenade attracts as many as 10,000 people on each of its three blocks during summer weekends. The benches located throughout the promenade provide seating for only 100 people.
While panhandling is most often associated with the homeless, the ordinance would ban all forms of solicitation, including charitable donations.
“The seat in the promenade … is extremely limited relative to the size of the crowd which frequent the promenade,”City Attorney Marsha Moutrie said during the recent council meeting. “For that reason just as we prohibit street performers using benches in conjunction with their street performances … we recommend adopting the ordinance preventing panhandling from the promenade.”
Panhandling, much like other forms of solicitation, are protected under the First Amendment. But City Hall does have the ability to regulate time, place and manner, Moutrie said.
The ban would also cover the transit mall, which is the bus stop area on Santa Monica Boulevard and Broadway between Second and Fourth streets. Several of those benches have been known as popular spots for panhandlers, some even just leaving an unattended sign asking for money.
“Those chairs and benches are in great demand as well and there are a number of individuals who do use those benches for long periods of time, soliciting funds the same way they do on the promenade,” Kathleen Rawson, Bayside’s executive director, said in reference to the transit mall.
Lt.Anne Fullove said that if the transit mall was excluded from the ban, it would push the problem on the promenade outwards.
“They like to use the areas that are very popular for pedestrian traffic — obviously in front of the theaters, in front of the food court,” Fullove said. “Those tend to be the places they like to sit and just post their sign and post their cup.”
Several bus riders have expressed frustration with panhandlers taking over the benches, even if they’re not necessarily waiting for a bus to arrive.
“It does affect me because it’s hard on me to not be able to sit,” Patricia Contis, a Santa Monica resident,said at the bus stop on the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway on Friday.
Darthy Hayden, another local bus rider, agreed, saying it’s particularly taxing on days when she has to walk far.
“Today I had to walk and walk and I couldn’t find a place to sit because all of these bums are taking the seats,” Hayden said.
Mayor Pro Tem Richard Bloom said there are strong policy reasons as to why solicitation from benches should be banned, enabling the homeless to ask for money rather than seek professional services available citywide.
City Hall is currently producing an anti-panhandling campaign that would encourage visitors and residents to donate money to a social service provider rather than directly to a homeless individual.
“These don’t always feel like a good step forward,” Bloom said of the proposed ban. “But in reality this is a really good step forward.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 28, 2008. Read the original PDF.