I wish this city, collectively, could come to a consensus that soliciting on the street is an abhorrent and annoying practice.
It's the IRL version of pop-up ads.
It doesn't matter if it's the homeless guy, the drug addict, or the canvasser asking for a "donation", they all can equally fuck off.
The only time soliciting on the street like this should socially acceptable is when it's for civic purposes. Collecting signatures for petitions, voter registration, ect.
When we allow these asshat canvassers to tell me about Children's International or Green Peace, it erodes at the ability of actual civil servants like activists and campaigners, to engage in meaningful dialog. The “homeless” and “addicts” on the other hand cause their own problems. 50% of the people I see downtown begging for change have been begging for change for 5+ years.
At lunch today I look across pioneer courthouse square and see the same 15-yearold-looking girl (the one who is about 4’10”) who begs outside of Powells. She’s a heroin and meth addict. I’ve seen her flying like a kite and hanging out with drug dealers as the sun goes down. She’s been standing out there with a different sign every day for 5+ years. Another Powells corner begger is the lady who has a broken leg/neck/arm/foot – she’s also an addict – and every week a new injury. Then there’s blanket man. The old lady who whispers “spare some cash”? Every. Goddamn. Day. I see these people begging for change to fuel their drug addictions – these people aren’t homeless, they’re living in section 8 housing – that’s why you don’t see them with a sleeping bag – but their sign will say anything, or say nothing, they know you’ll just give them money without asking questions.
Today a woman walked right by a CI canvasser and totally ignored her, the CI canvasser was visibly upset about this - but I don't think she realizes that I see her canvassing fucking ass on the street M-F, and three times a week she’ll use the exact same line (the same line everyone uses), “Hey man, nice tie! Do you have a minute to chat?” It’s totally disingenuous, about as appealing as a pop-up add exclaiming I won a free iPad. These people are really diluted enough to believe that they’re doing something positive by snagging 2-3 “sustaining donors” a day at $15 a month, when they’re standing out there making $15 an hour, and their overhead is approaching If you do the math on the back of a napkin it’s pretty goddamn clear they’re not actually doing fund raising, they’re only collecting email addresses and doing branding awareness. Each one of those employees on the street needs to bring in about $3,000 a month just to cover their own overhead as employees.
At some point this city just needs to put up a public statement that people have gone wayyy to far.
This isn’t anything about limiting freedom of speech, it’s instead false and misleading solicitations harassing people on the street.