In nearly every highway median in the Triangle there is someone with a sign asking for money!

[GVoR]

Originally Posted by JONOV

That's one of those places that have a lot of what I refer to as "voluntary homeless." You see it in Asheville, New Orleans, too...Most panhandlers look like folks that have fallen on hard times as opposed to people that have intentionally aspired to be less.

I would tend agree.

However, they are far more numerous there than what I have experienced here in the Triangle. I ran into a couple panhandlers outside the Raleigh Times one night downtown and see the "always" there ones at the 540/Capital Intersection, 540 and Falls of Neuse near Lafayette Village and then 540/64 in Knightdale by the Best Buy and Target.

Hmmmm maybe 540 is the issue

[adams_aj]

Go to Detroit.

[Shallow Hal]

Regarding my previous post, of course not all people who are homeless are substance abusers. Did not want to appear to paint with too broad a brush. But I did want to offer some thoughts regarding addiction and homelessness.

[SGMI]

The explosion of begging began several years ago when the Supreme Court ruled that begging is a form of free speech. So far though, the appeals courts have been unwilling to support the premise that regulating people out of the medians for non-speech reasons, fits within a strict scrutiny test. We'll need a split ruling in the appeals courts, and a city or state willing to take their case to the Supreme Court again, to get some clarity on what kind of ordinance is constitutional to keep people off the medians. I have read that some localities have tried countermeasures like filling medians with rocks or "crash barrels" to discourage panhandlers.

It's prevalent everywhere nowadays. In Charlotte I make a mental note of where they're likely to be, and avoid turning left at those intersections - or drive through the intersection and then U-turn somewhere further out.