Best Of The South Bay

I submitted a Red Phone about this topic to the Gilroy Dispatch, but they didn’t publish it. To be fair, it was submitted through a digital medium (their form) so perhaps it was lost in cyberspace and they did not receive it.

But could it be that Gilroy doesn’t want to talk about the rampant pandhandler problem? Is it an untouchable subject?

I can’t be the only one who’s noticed the seemingly inordinate number of panhandlers we have in Gilroy. And I say panhandlers rather than homeless because not all panhandlers are homeless. And, dare I say, not all homeless people panhandle. There are many homeless who prefer to be invisible. There are some pandhandlers who aren’t even poor, judging by the guy who pulls into a local fast food chain in his Escalade, goes into the public restroom, and then exits in filthy rags, complete with sign (he must have bought in on the franchise opportunity).

I think word has gotten out that Gilroy is an affluent community with dollars to spare and we don’t run off the panhandlers. And we obviously don’t run them off because I see the same guy, but sometimes with a different vehicle, with a sign outside of the Chevron near the truck stop on Monterey Hwy, that claims each time that he’s run out of gas and is “stranded” here.

The retail area over at Gilroy Crossing off of 10th Street generally has large numbers of panhandlers at any given time. In fact, my son and I counted 8 pandhandlers in the road medians at the same time one day. They each were on a different median - all with difficult-to-impossible to read cardboard signs. I don’t understand why the city allows people to sit in a median with a sign all day (or even for an hour, for that matter). Motorists strain to read the signs as they go by which will one day cause an accident if it hasn’t already. I’ve seen the light turn green and a motorist actually stop in the middle of the road, holding out money to the panhandler and traffic is effectively stopped during this exchange.

Allowing people in the medians is a hazard to both panhandler and motorist. I think the only person that should ever be in a road median is someone who is desperate for emergency help, like someone who has just been in a accident and needs to flag down some help (and no being desperate for a bottle of Thunderbird or a Starbucks Vente Blah Blah Blah doesn’t count as “desperate for emergency help”).

I think if we want to see a reduction in the pandhandling acitivity we need to, firstly, stop giving to them. Secondly, law enforcement needs to step in and run them off with a friendly, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here”.

I’d almost rather see hookers in Gilroy than all these panhandlers because at least the hookers provide a valuable public service. But you’d better bet local law enforcement wouldn’t allow “them” to stand in the road medians.

Love it or hate it - it’s what I think.