I am all for helping poor women and children. I am even all for helping poor men. What I am not for is doing it at intersections in the Gainesville District. We have enough traffic problem without having to put up with panhandling by church groups. There are other ways to help the poor.
I have had several reports that intersections in Gainesville and Haymarket this past weekend had a church group out asking motorists for money at most of the major intersections in Haymarket and some of the intersections in Gainesville. While I salute the cause of helping the poor, I don’t salute snarling traffic or panhandling on public property.
I don’t know if this church group had permission from local authorities or not. They should not have been granted permission. If one church group is allowed to panhandle, then all churches should be afforded the same right. Can you imagine what we would have on our hands? Every weekend people just out trying to do their errands would be snarled in traffic. Getting from point A to Point B would become a nightmare. People would avoid shopping and doing business in those areas. If the competition on weekends got too heavy for all the churches, they could hit commuters up during rush hour.
