Letter to the Dispatch

To the Editor,

Tuesday’s editorial “Good investment” says, “In the heart of Downtown, property owners in the Capital Crossroads district pay to employ green-shirted 'ambassadors' who keep sidewalks clean, answer questions and discourage panhandlers.”

How does one “discourage panhandlers”? Are green-shirted employees of private businesses legally authorized to “discourage panhandlers”? Could distant, rival businesses legally employ panhandlers to discourage sales by their downtown competition?

If the Green-Shirts successfully move the panhandlers along, where do they go?

I’m all for businesses mowing their grass, cleaning up trash, and sweeping their sidewalks; that’s real for everyone and solves problems. But “discouraging panhandlers” (i.e. forcing them out of one particular location into another) serves some at the expense of others and ignores the problem.

These “ambassadors” might be wonderful folks, but the use of privately financed “enforcers” is a slippery slope. Green Shirts now; Brown Shirts later?

- Uke Man