Monday, July 13, 2009
Can shake or shakedown?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Every city has its streetside merchant class. New York has (had?) its squeegee men. L.A. has its citrus vendors on the offramps. And, as we all know, New Orleans has the can shake, where representatives of various causes don't offer to clean your windshield or sell you oranges, but just walk up to your car window and shake a can, hoping you'll give them money.
An unsigned letter to the editor begged Gambit to do a story on the pervasiveness of the can shake:
I venture to guess I am not the only person fed up with certain organizations at multiple intersections, begging for money. Not only is it annoying to have some persistent churchgoer peer into my window & shake a jar of change at me -- NO, that's it -- it's just annoying. Not to mention the poor teens begging for money to help their poorly funded sports teams in 100°+ weather! ...
I have even witnessed a church organization and a homeless man fight over a street corner! Another screamed "F--- you" into my friend's car ....
Why can't these organizations do something good for the community, so that we may want to support them? Offer some service that we might pay for ... how about a bake sale, clothing drive, canned food drive, garage sale or a car wash?
If you are the head of some organization, whether it be a basketball team, or a church, for profit or for not, you are the head of a business. Read a book, take a course, get your jars out of our faces!
Sincerely,
Over it and out of change
What say you? Do can-shakers drive you crazy, or are they OK? Any good stories about encounters with can-shakers?
Comments (10)
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Is that letter edited? Shouldn't it have also included the phrases, "Get a job" and "Get off my lawn" somewhere?
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Scam artists, all of them. Produce something worthwhile for a fundraiser and charities will prosper. Even among the current economic downturn, legitimate charities still raise funds. The kids selling candy to raise money for their "basketball team's uniforms" and the huckster baptist church members are really just the fundraising arms of your local street gangs and vote-selling preachers, respectively. Americans are some of the most charitable people, and unfortunately their charity is preyed upon by thieves and criminals at intersections. As pocketbooks get thinner, these hucksters will hopefully get squeezed out.
Can shakers are a nuisance, not to mention a safety hazard with kids and teens darting in and out of traffic to collect their change. They should have to schlep down to City Hall just like everyone else and obtain a permit, which should be prominently displayed while begging.
Ugh. When I taught and talked about homelessness, the pattern was sadly predictable. Students said the usual pieties, then after a pause, someone would say, "But you know, they're not all poor," and they'd start telling me stories of the wealthy homeless people working the various underpasses. In two other cities, I've had people I was with similarly tell me about secretly wealthy beggars who stash the money they get from their phony "Will Work for Food" signs in the walls of their houses. Either a) begging is far more lucrative than it looks, and the few people who give them money are giving $50s, or b) this is the sort of lie people tell themselves to stave off the discomfort that accompanies seeing people worse off than us and doing nothing.
Can-shaking has been illegal since 1999 under Section 54-411 of the New Orleans Municipal Code: Sec. 54-411. Begging, solicitation of rides, business, employment, or charitable contributions prohibited. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to commit the crime of begging as set forth herein. (b) Begging is the unauthorized solicitation for money or anything of value by any person. (c) No person shall stand, sit, or remain next to or in a roadway or street, or upon the shoulder of any street or roadway, or upon a neutral ground of any street or roadway for the purpose of begging, soliciting or otherwise requesting a ride, soliciting employment, making known his/her availability for employment, soliciting business or charitable contributions, or selling items or services to or from the drivers or occupants of any vehicle. (d) Individuals violating the provisions of this section may participate in a city-approved community service program in lieu of suffering the penalties imposed by this Code for violation of this section. (Code 1956, § 42-79; M.C.S., Ord. No. 17,457, § 1, 3-7-96; M.C.S., Ord. No. 18,937, § 1, 10-15-98; M.C.S., Ord. No. 19,119, § 1, 2-18-99)
Alright then - there is a non-stop parade of can shakers at Elysian Fields and the I-610 exit that need to be stopped, since it is against the law according to Municipal Code Sec. 54-411.
Aside from the code and the safety concerns, I've always wondered who these folks are really collecting money for. Anyone can slap a sticker on the side of a can, get some friends and take over an intersection in the name of People for Sunlight and shake down motorists. Legitimate fundraising operations shouldn't be resorting to illegal and dangerous means of getting money.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. "Oh, the people without money are discomfiting me as I sit in my air-conditioned car!" Fuck y'all. I don't have a car-- I walk, ride my bike, or take public transport everywhere I go-- and I have never been discommoded by a "can shaker." YOU LIVE IN ONE OF THE POOREST CITIES IN AMERICA. So yes, of COURSE there are beggars. Whining automotive commuters... gag... cry me a river of asphalt
