Poughkeepsie council adopts “aggressive panhandling” law

POUGHKEEPSIE – A half-hour
of at times impassioned debate ended with adoption of a local law in the
City of Poughkeepsie addressing what the law terms “aggressive panhandling,”
despite concerns that some key issues were not being addressed.
Among those urging passage was Council Chairman Christopher Petsas, who cited an experience his parents had at a service station, with a well-known culprit whose behavior would come under the law. 
“(He) demanded money from my father who is elderly, shook him up, and went around when he couldn’t get any money from my father who was pumping gas, and tried to get money from my mother who was sitting in the front seat of the car and then when she didn’t respond to him, attempted to spit at my mother,” Petsas said.
Minority Leader Lee David Klein said the law deals with an issue that is driving people out of parts of the city.
“Without it, you will have a declining quality of life in the part of the city where we want, we all want the same thing; we want people to come here,”  Klein said.  “They will not.  They will leave.”
Democrat Ann Perry said the law misses the root cause of the problem which for many are mental issues.
Another Democrat, Matthew McNamara, agreed.
“There’s a bigger problem,” McNamara said.  It’s a band-aid on a hemorrhage.  This resolution, I understand why it’s here.  I’m glad we reduced the fine, but this is a much bigger problem than we’re willing to reduce … I really think it’s a slippery slope that we’re criminalizing the mentally ill.”
Democrat Lorraine Johnson also said the law lacked attention to mental issues.  She indicated she had seerious concerns with the law, because of that, but in the end, was among the “yes” votes. 
The final vote was six-two with the negative votes coming from Randall
Johnson and Perry.