panhandlers

[moahunter]

^why are you sorry? What did you do wrong?

[Marcel Petrin]

Nope, just a polite way of declining.

Sorry.

[B.ike]

Took a walk down 104 Street the other day - believe it was a Monday at 5PM. Started from Mercers and went south towards Jasper. I must have been accosted for money and/or smokes at least six times in a stretch thats about half a kilometre long...

Most of the benches were taken up by people with carts. Some airing out their clothes. Some shaping up their can collection. Others just having a chat with their buddy (but they were sure to ask everyone walking by for change).

I typically acknowledge whoever speaks to me (look them in the eye when I respond) and give a variation of "nope/sorry, got nothing" but when one bench asks for money, and I know the next bench was in an earshot, but still asks me, it's just annoying and my responses start becoming terse.

I actually have no issue where these people hang out (they've got every right to be where I am), but the constant barrage for change makes any walk through downtown (especially outside business hours) downright unpleasant and - for some I would expect - rather unsettling.

[Gemini]

For the last couple of years there has been a guy hanging around a strip mall that I shop at frequently. Sometimes he's on foot and sometimes he's on a bike. He panhandles. This strip mall is 65 blocks north of downtown. I should imagine there are a few strip malls throughout the city who have dedicated panhandlers. Some people might even know the panhandlers name as they are there that often.