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Just came back after a 2-month stay in ABQ. One thing you will quickly notice is the homeless population. They congregate outside restaurants, grocery stores, fast food etc. You need a code to use restaurants s bathrooms. I could not sit in my car for more than two minutes before somebody would approach me. Central Ave and Girard and many other intersections. There was one business in the news announcing they would not take cash after 3pm.
Just came back after a 2-month stay in ABQ. One thing you will quickly notice is the homeless population.
True homeless in ABQ exist, but they're not usually the ones hitting you up for money. ABQ has a class of professional beggars (I don't like the term panhandler, which has inexplicably caught on) who travel a circuit between cities. These guys and occasionally girls typically crash at motel rooms or friends' houses, and crest in the early and late summer. Many are migratory. They're certainly not homeless in the freeway-underpass sense. Most make plenty of money this way, especially considering it's tax free, and lead otherwise normal lives.
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They congregate outside restaurants, grocery stores, fast food etc. You need a code to use restaurants s bathrooms. I could not sit in my car for more than two minutes before somebody would approach me. Central Ave and Girard and many other intersections.
This is a bit outsized for most Albuquerqueans. You were probably hanging around the rougher parts of town.
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There was one business in the news announcing they would not take cash after 3pm.
I'm sure the repeat-robbers who put Bob's Burgers up to this already had homes. This is a local political feud, and it's easy to see Bob's' side of it.
Just came back after a 2-month stay in ABQ. One thing you will quickly notice is the homeless population. They congregate outside restaurants, grocery stores, fast food etc. You need a code to use restaurants s bathrooms. I could not sit in my car for more than two minutes before somebody would approach me. Central Ave and Girard and many other intersections.
I think this is probably worse around UNM, downtown, and to a lesser extent in the International District. I certainly don't find it universal throughout Albuquerque. I don't normally see this sort of thing when I am at the Trader Joe's or Target in Uptown, or when I'm at Whole Foods or Smith's on Carlisle. Etc.
Specifically in relation to the UNM area, I think college students tend to attract this sort of behavior. They are often idealistic and open to a fault, which makes them more willing to interact with panhandlers (what's wrong with that word?) and the like. I remember being a college student in Philadelphia and doing things like buying drinks for homeless people asking me to do so, or otherwise being very open to engaging with them. (If I had continued I could have become Linh Dinh.) Not everyone is like that, but the point is that many college students still have more open boundaries about such things than they will have later.
Honestly, it's rare that I am bothered by panhandlers outside of restaurants or stores. Was at Taqueria Mexico yesterday, at the edge of a "rough" neighborhood. No panhandlers!
There's no pan involved.
There's no handling of a pan involved.
The word is silly- having your arm sticking out like the handle on a pan. That's not what these people do.
They talk to passersby with hands lowered, or hold up signs on medians at intersections and interchanges.
The word "beggars" is far more accurate and worthy. You will find "an act of begging" in most definitions for "panhandling". You will not find the reverse. The P-word is, and has always been, slang. Slang doesn't belong in city ordinances.
There's no pan involved.
There's no handling of a pan involved.
The word is silly- having your arm sticking out like the handle on a pan. That's not what these people do.
They talk to passersby with hands lowered, or hold up signs on medians at intersections and interchanges.
The word "beggars" is far more accurate and worthy. You will find "an act of begging" in most definitions for "panhandling". You will not find the reverse. The P-word is, and has always been, slang. Slang doesn't belong in city ordinances.
Let's reform language and eliminate anything colorful or metaphorical. The word has certain connotations lacking in "beggar." "Pandhandler" has been much more commonly used than "beggar" by people I've interacted with since the early 80s. I don't see it as a word that has recently "caught on," though I don't know its history in New Mexico.
I'm not clear what any of this had to do with city ordinances, which weren't mentioned in the post to which you responded. The language of law is a separate issue. We aren't obliged to speak like attorneys at all times.
Central Ave and Girard and many other intersections.
This is one of the city's ground-zero intersections for panhandling and is probably not representative. There are a lot more homeless and people with substance abuse problems in the UNM neighborhood than most of the rest of the city, and they congregate at the Central/Yale and Central/Girard intersections. The former has a place to sell blood plasma, a McDonalds, and a little-used, covered bus station with seats. The latter has a Walgreens that stays open late with a large liquor section featuring lots of bargain-basement options, a network of alleys behind the store, and again, a couple under-used bus stations with seats.
The situation in the UNM area goes back decades to the time in the 60s, 70s and 80s when the park along Central in front of UNM was basically a counter-culture "free zone" with lots of camping, open drug use, etc. The park is long gone, but the neighborhood continues to draw people in. Also, I think there's a perception that college students and faculty may be more tolerant and more likely to be generous with their money or food when approached. And there's certainly a lot more foot traffic.
I think this is probably worse around UNM, downtown, and to a lesser extent in the International District. I certainly don't find it universal throughout Albuquerque. I don't normally see this sort of thing when I am at the Trader Joe's or Target in Uptown, or when I'm at Whole Foods or Smith's on Carlisle. Etc. ...
There are plenty of beggars working the area around Indian and Carlisle. They are there every day, apparently working in shifts. I see locals giving them money all the time. If people did not give them money, eventually many of them would go away. Moving here from L.A., I was surprised to see how many people gave money, since it is rare to see motorists doing that in SoCal. Want to give money? Give it to groups that work with the truly homeless.
The street-corner beggars seem less aggressive here than in L.A., though. Never been hassled here. Car-burglarized, yes.
My son used to live next to UNM and he said he was accosted on a regular basis, though. You see more intoxicated and truly hard-luck types over there.
Last edited by nazz; 08-02-2017 at 02:58 PM..
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