PORT ANGELES — Two city officials will drive to Centralia and Chehalis this week to explore ways to stem the activities of downtown panhandlers.
City Councilwoman Cherie Kidd and Police Chief Terry Gallagher plan to drive to the twin cities Tuesday to meet with officials and discuss their panhandling ordinances.
“What I know is that we have more panhandlers,” Gallagher said last week.
Centralia’s law, which went into effect in June 2014, bans panhandling at certain intersections because it created safety hazards by people running into the street to ask for money, Centralia City Manager Rob Hill said Friday.
Chehalis’ law, modeled after Centralia’s, went into effect Sept. 2.
Port Angeles has a panhandling ordinance, but it restricts only aggressive panhandling, not where it can be done.
Gallagher said a no-panhandling area in Port Angeles could cover the downtown business core on First and Front streets from Peabody Street west to Valley Street.
“Panhandling in the downtown is a problem, and people who engage in that behavior are a problem,” he said.
Said Kidd, who initiated the trip: “What I am trying to do is stop people from sitting on our sidewalks all day long and creating a menace.
“They camp on our sidewalks, intimidate walkers and get in the way, and they create lots of garbage.
“We just need a safe place for people to come and shop and safe sidewalks for the public safety.
“There ought to be a way we can reclaim our business area.”
Port Townsend also has seen a spike in panhandling, but the Police Department has had no complaints from the public, Detective Luke Bogues, department spokesman, said Friday.
“We don’t have hard statistics, but I’ve definitely seen an increase even in just the past probably three or four months, in my experience, in driving around,” he said.
“What I’ve seen is people standing on the sidewalk with cardboard signs, but I can’t even recall one call for service complaining about it.”
Gallagher said he does not see a link between homelessness and the uptick in panhandling in Port Angeles.
“People who do homeless counts report declining numbers,” he said.
“I don’t think the question is are there more homeless.
“I hear three terms a lot: homeless, transient, panhandler — and people use them interchangeably.”
Gallagher said high-panhandling areas include a concrete-pad on the south side of Lincoln Street near the intersection with Front Street.
Gallagher said one downtown panhandler told him he made $100 a day.
Then there was a woman and her husband who were doing research for a master’s degree, he said he heard from a police officer.
They told the officer they made $128 in four hours asking for money at First and Lincoln Streets.
“People who are causing the greatest amount of concern are people in many cases who have chosen that lifestyle,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher added that panhandling is legal.
Brown’s Outdoor, a camping goods store at 112 W. Front St., is just 1½ blocks away from Lincoln and Front streets.
Store owner Evan Brown said he has more problems with transients, particularly behind his store.
“They go through the alley; they case your car; they do drugs,” he said Friday.
Friday was the first day of the three-day Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival, centered just north of First and Lincoln.
“I’m more worried about the image of the town, with all these people coming for the Crab Fest,” Brown said.
“What will be the impression they have of Port Angeles when you have all these people like this?
“They wander around, they are yelling, they are cussing, they are walking out into traffic.”
Sgt. Kurt Reichert of the Centralia Police Department said Friday that before the city’s ordinance went into effect, panhandlers were warned they could be fined $250 once the ordinance went into effect.
“[The ordinance] hasn’t eliminated it totally, but it has probably cut the number by 60 [percent] to 80 percent,” Reichert said.
The unintended consequence has to do with Chehalis being just 4½ miles away.
“Large numbers of them moved to Chehalis,” Reichert said.
“I live locally, so I see the same ones.”
Gallagher said he would not be surprised to see the same displacement of panhandlers if the City Council bans downtown panhandling.
“They could move somewhere else, and where that might be is anyone’s guess,” he said.
Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer said the ordinance had a dramatic impact citywide — not just restricted areas — on Sept. 3, the day after it went into effect.
“The panhandlers just weren’t there,” he said Friday.
After more than a year, Centralia’ law has not been legally challenged, said Hill, the city manager.
But he questioned whether a broad law like that envisioned by Gallagher could withstand a legal test.
Gallagher said he’s hoping those kinds of questions can be answered after this week’s trip to Centralia and Chehalis.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
