Clashes mar debate on panhandling at Kennedy Plaza

JOSEPH R. Paolino Jr. is shown in front of Paolino Properties headquarters at 100 Westminster St. in Providence.
 /  PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
JOSEPH R. Paolino Jr. is shown in front of Paolino Properties headquarters at 100 Westminster St. in Providence. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – The debate about what – if anything – should be done to reduce the number of panhandlers downtown intensified as a group of homeless advocates clashed with members of the business community over how to move forward.
Joseph R. Paolino Jr., owner and managing partner of Paolino Properties, is the new chairman of the Providence Downtown Improvement District. He also is a former mayor of the city.
He called a meeting Wednesday to unveil a host of proposals for how Providence could improve social services for the city’s most vulnerable population, while also increasing enforcement and addressing legal issues he views as prevalent throughout the downtown district. The meeting, however, was shut to the public and some members of the media after more than 20 protesters arrived to publicly oppose the plan.
“The real problem is this whole idea that we need to ‘clean up’ Kennedy Plaza,” said Eric Hirsch, professor of sociology at Providence College, who was a part of earlier meetings, but shut out of the event. “It criminalizes homelessness … and we oppose the criminalization of homelessness and poverty.”
Paolino last month invited several members of the private, public, nonprofit and social services sectors to meet and discuss how to improve the downtown district, which includes Kennedy Plaza, Burnside Park and a number of office buildings. The district – also a bus hub for the R.I. Public Transit Authority – is densely populated during the day, and a popular place for the city’s homeless to congregate. The number of people who frequent the area, however, has increased beginning earlier this year after Mayor Jorge O. Elorza ordered police to stop enforcing a ban on “aggressive panhandling,” which the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island argues violates free-speech rights. The city also stopped enforcing a penalty on people who loiter on bus line property.
Paolino has long argued the increased amount of panhandling has opened the door for illicit behavior that’s not “conducive to making Providence a wonderful place to work, live and visit,” and he called the meetings to discuss how to mitigate its impact on the downtown.
“We took the initiative in bringing a number of stakeholders to the table to educate us, as members of the downtown business community, on some of the plights faced by the people we see: panhandlers,” Paolino said.
Some of the proposals revealed Wednesday aligned with the advocacy efforts of the protesters, including the push to support a new program at the Amos House called “A Hand Up” program, which would provide day jobs for panhandlers as an inroad to job training and employment opportunities. The plan also calls for growing social services, by offering housing vouchers for the chronically homeless and augmenting social services outreach. However, the plan also proposes a host of enforcement and legal action plans, which has evoked outcry from those in opposition, who argue public spaces are just that: public, and belong to no individual constituency.
“I don’t see [panhandling] as a problem” said Andrew Horwitz, director and supervising attorney at Roger Williams University School of Law, who works downtown. “The problem is with the injustice of our economies, and people would rather not be faced with it.”
The plan calls for an increase in police presence, to address congregations on certain sections of the sidewalks and to curb roadside solicitation. Paolino is urging the City Council to pass an ordinance on “unsafe practices on roadways,” which would make it illegal for people to enter a roadway to exchange anything with the occupant of a vehicle. Beyond panhandlers, the ordinance would also affect others, including firefighters collecting money and little leaguers looking for donations. The ACLU quickly issued a statement rejecting any such proposal.
“The ordinance that has been proposed by Mr. Paolino is not even a thinly veiled attempt to infringe on the First Amendment rights of the poor. It is a direct attack on individuals who are struggling with homelessness or poverty and who seek to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights to solicit donations,” according to the statement. “Although the proposal is broadly worded to theoretically apply to Little Leaguers and others who engage in similar roadway solicitations, we know that, like past ordinances, this one will almost certainly be selectively enforced against the poor if it is enacted.”
Elorza, who was not at the meeting, is expected to release his own plan for Kennedy Plaza Thursday morning.
“Some elements of today’s plan are echoed in the mayor’s plan,” said Emily Crowell, acting communication director for Elorza. “But the mayor’s plan has an overall theme of being compassionate, creative and cooperative.”
Paolino acknowledged the proposals are not representative of a consensus of all stakeholders, but hopes it can act as a blueprint for how the community can move forward.
“Not all have the same constituencies,” he said. “The recommendations are a framework for our ongoing discussion with and among our community partners. Some of these recommendations will be altered or dismissed; others will be added. It’s a work in progress.”

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