Betty Heuss, owner of Durango Toy Depot, is part of a growing chorus of businesspeople hoping Durango can come up with a solution to an apparent increase in panhandling.
The Toy Depot is located at 658 Main Ave. in what Heuss called “the kids block,” between a frozen-yogurt shop and a candy store.
“I’ve been spit on,” Heuss said. “I’ve been yelled at, I’ve been cursed at. I’ve been followed down the street. We want Durango to be the safe, beautiful place it is.”
About 50 businesspeople came to hear Durango police and city officials give an update on what they’re doing to combat increasingly visible panhandling activity. The Durango Business Improvement District meeting, held with coffee and pastries at First National Bank of Durango, provided a contrast to the gritty realities of panhandling and policing.
Durango police stopped enforcing a city loitering ordinance in October after receiving a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union that questioned the ordinance’s legality.
“That old ordinance, that had been in place for years and years, was flat-out unconstitutional and unenforceable,” City Attorney Dirk Nelson said.
Since then, panhandlers have been a regular feature on downtown Main Avenue, and at the Walmart, Home Depot and Farmington Hill intersections along U.S. Highway 550/160, among other locations.
The city is evaluating what other cities around the nation have done to limit panhandling. Yet local governments are hamstrung as to what they can do. Court dockets are full of constitutional challenges to such ordinances, many of them brought by the ACLU.
Simply holding a sign soliciting passers-by on the sidewalk is constitutionally protected speech, Nelson said.
Prohibited conduct that police can crack down on includes intimidation, following after someone, obstructing passage or knowingly touching or grabbing, Nelson said.
Police spokesman Ray Shupe cautioned, however, that writing tickets does not necessarily deter transients.
“They don’t have any money – a fine won’t work,” he said. “Half the time, they don’t show up (to court). They don’t care if they have a warrant (for arrest). If you have a warrant, you’re going to be horrified. For these people, it’s like a vacation, going to jail.”
Jennifer Simon, a bank employee, said she was harassed by a panhandler.
“Someone ‘Hey, baby-ed’ me,” she said.
Nelson said he’s spending a lot of time crafting a replacement ordinance to make sure it can withstand legal challenge.
Police Chief Jim Spratlen said any intimidation is unacceptable. The department sometimes tries to get cases into La Plata County Court, where Judge Martha Minot can refer defendants to social-service resources.
Discouraging residents and tourists from giving money to panhandlers is one strategy some cities have tried with mixed results, Nelson said. Businesses may put up their own signs to discourage panhandling.
Mary Shepherd, a local resident, said the panhandlers come because begging in Durango is lucrative.
“Don’t feed the bears,” she said. “Or panhandlers.”
