Amarillo Panhandlers Will Have To Find A New Place To Stand

One thing we've seen quite an increase of here in Amarillo is the panhandling that takes place in the city. Over the last year, it seems we've seen a whole lot more people out panhandling, or they're just going to more public, easy locations.

That hasn't gone unnoticed by the City of Amarillo offices, and now they're trying to do something about it.

Trying to completely eliminate panhandling is something that is nearly impossible to do in any city. You'll always have people doing it, but you CAN limit where they tend to do their panhandling, and that's exactly what the city has decided to do.

The reasoning behind it isn't exactly what you would think it is though. Initially you'd think they're doing it to "clean up the city", and while I'm sure that has something to do with it, that's not the primary reason for this.

The city is banning panhandlers from standing at medians at intersections on the cities streets because data is showing that accidents involving pedestrians have increased, and the amount of deaths involving pedestrians has doubled in the last two years.

The presence of those people standing in the median are more than likely causing people to lose focus on the road and they aren't paying attention to what's going on in front or around them. It's easy to get distracted by reading the signs the panhandlers are holding.

There will now be new "safe/clear zones" that will be marked by the city at intersections with a traffic light that panhandlers and pedestrians won't be able to stand at. If they do, they could be subject to a fine or worse.

You can see the full ordinance by clicking here.