Psycho Panhandlers? Be Amused. Besides, We Don't Have Jail Space

Ideally, if you have a problem in NYC, you dial 311 and it's solved.

Whatever it is, from no heat to a pothole, dial 311 and they'll patch you to the right agency. But if that doesn't work, you're screwed. Unless, heh heh, you're one of the lucky few who has access to THE MEDIA.

A Times Square asshole made the mistake of hassling a New York Post photographer, and now there's a huge article about him. Up till now, 311 and the various city agencies were not doing a good job of keeping this public nuisance from being a public nuisance.

Technically, you could call 311 (or even 911, the emergency number) and say, "Come get this guy for obscenity, for loitering, for disturbing the peace." You should get action.

BUT...the cops would yawn and use the familiar excuse, "Panhandling is legal" and "he's protected by Freedom of speech." Which is not true. The problem is that cops are lazy. The problem is a jerk like this is going to get a DAT (desk appearance ticket) and probably not even get tossed in the clink overnight. Why? Because cops don't want to waste their time fingerprinting the jerk, writing up the complaint, and dragging him down to "The Tombs."

If nobody's actively pressing the cops to act (an angry store owner, a hurt civilian, etc.) the cops have no reason to go through all this bureaucracy. Just so that some homeless jerk, some out-of-town clod who camps out in a park, can get a free dinner, breakfast and maybe even lunch, with the minor inconvenience of being behind bars for a while?

He's set free soon enough, told to appear at a hearing in a month or two, and the judge will sentence him to "time served" and move on. No room in the jails. That's assuming the perp even shows up to be sentenced. Being a "scofflaw" is a way of life for a lot of deadbeats.

The NY Post reporter went to the trouble of "naming and shaming" this jerk. He gleefully interviewed people to add an element of public outrage to what might seem like a minor nuisance. He got more damning pictures of the asshole, and best of all, he got paid every step of the way. When you fight to get rid of a neighborhood panhandler jerk like this, you'll be spending your own time and losing money.

Oh, man. The FUN of being part of the media, and being HEARD. No question about it, the "power of the press" can be quite gratifying, whether you're writing an expose, or just giving your opinion on a bad movie or record album. Hell, sometimes you get satisfaction just by flashing a PRESS badge, and getting a freebie, or some respect and quick action. Like, "I'm thinking of writing a piece for the Post on this problem..." Suddenly: "Oh, no problem, this was an oversight we can take care of..." I'll bet the Post reporter first asked a cop, "Can you arrest this guy," and got "No." Then he said, "Fine, I'll turn this into an article." And if the mayor actually gets angry (after all, this perp is white) and tells the cops to lean on jerks like this (as long as they're white), so much the better.

I'm sure the editorial meeting here concluded with, "Yes, let's NAIL this asshole. He threatened one of our photographers. We have to work in this fucking part of town. He's even been messing around with trying to "occupy" the Trinity Church, and we can do God's work because the church obviously has been helpless to get action.

It often takes a LOT to get rid of a local panhandler. If the jerk is a regular, then your step after cop apathy is to find your local council member for your district, hope that person isn't a total fuck-up, and will understand that this pest is destroying "quality of life," and impacting on local businesses. If you've got nerve, you can take your sneaky camcorder and record the jerk's illegal activities. You can even post to GooTube and send the link to as many city officials as possible.

If that pushy prick bothers you enough, you take these steps, even if it costs you time and money. And then, yes, magically the panhandler is no longer there with his "Freedom of Speech." The cops have arrested him or threatened him severely enough for him to go bother people in a less affluent and influential part of town.

It's 50-50 whether this jerk will be roughed up, sent to Riker's or someplace really unpleasant for a week or two, or simply told to leave town or ELSE. But thanks to the MEDIA, this smug pain-in-the-ass is not going to continue getting his jollies by exchanging curse words with tourists and being A. Savage. These obnoxious adrenaline junkies, their idea of a good time is to raise everyone's blood pressure.

Daniel, at 36, you're just a fuckin' LOSER. Getting your name in the paper for holding up a dirty sign and being a parody of 60's hippies ain't even gonna impress other losers. "Wow, you stand around with a sign and annoy people. That takes..." well, it doesn't take much of anything except having nothing better to do, which is the ultimate definition of LOSER.

And the NY Post guy made money off ya, Daniel.