Panhandlers' boom

WHAT DO YOU do when you encounter one of Boston's beggars?

They seem to be everywhere these days, from Newbury Street to the Common, from the waterfront to South Station.

Sometimes I put money into their Dunkin' Donuts cups. Sometimes, Scrooge-like, I walk by.

Often, I avoid eye contact, as if that will help me avoid the moral dilemma presented by those outstretched hands. It doesn't.

Some beggars, or panhandlers, mumble "thank you," even when ignored; such deliberate politeness pushes the guilt button even harder.

To rationalize my stinginess, I like to recall the woman on Newbury Street who approached me for a handout. When I gave her my meter money, she complained that it wasn't enough ; she expected more of someone walking into an overpriced hair salon. That kind of attitude makes a person feel better about a lack of generosity. Then, there was the man near Faneuil Hall, wearing pants covered with little navy blue whales. "J. Crew?" I asked him. "Ralph Lauren," he chuckled. I gave him a dollar, for flashing a sense of humor.

Personal anecdotes aside, panhandling is a serious matter for cities. San Francisco, once infamous for its aggressive panhandlers, cracked down by actively enforcing public nuisance laws.

"It's a complex issue," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. People who are posing as homeless and some who have come out of incarceration "have become problems out on the street," he said. "They are using the homeless as screens."

To coordinate the city's response, Jim Green, the director of the city's Emergency Shelter Commission, is working with the Pine Street Inn, Boston's largest shelter for the homeless, along with the Boston Police Department. "What we've been trying to do is elevate the partnership," said Green.

Green spent 10 years as a street outreach worker before going to work for Menino. He attributes a panhandling increase at any given moment to a variety of factors. More panhandlers come out in warm weather. Some are feeding a renewed addiction. Some hit the streets when their disability checks run out. Some are scam artists. Some have criminal records that make gainful employment difficult.

There are many regulars on Boston streets, said Green, including an elderly bearded man he often sees near City Hall. He said he knows the man lives north of Boston and comes into the city to supplement his Social Security income.

Thanks to a gift from Partners HealthCare, the Pine Street Inn recently announced it will begin running a daytime outreach van to help street people. The shelter already runs two nighttime vans. But as city officials already know, homelessness and panhandling are problems without easy solutions. Some street people need help; some present public safety challenges.

To that end, Deputy Superintendent Gladys Aquino Gaines was recently appointed as the Boston Police Department's liaison to the homeless and mentally ill. To some degree, she said, the job is less about policing and more about the need to understand homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness. But enforcement is a necessary component, especially when panhandlers get overzealous.

"The police are going to make sure they are not harassing people walking through the Common or Public Garden," Menino said.

Not everyone feels harassed, even by panhandlers who may not be absolutely destitute.

When Judy Meredith walks her usual circuit from her Winter Street office to the State House or Boston City Hall, she carries quarters in her pocket. "I give to my regulars every day," said Meredith, a longtime advocate for the poor. She said she knows some panhandlers fight for turf and some do it as an income enhancer. "My regulars are people I think probably have a place to live. This is the way they earn their money. I don't care," she said. "Generosity is one of my basic beliefs."

For those who feel uncomfortable around panhandlers, Green suggests giving money instead to outreach programs like those run by the Pine Street Inn. And here's an even more basic suggestion from Emily Johnson, executive director of the Homeless Empowerment Project, which publishes Spare Change News, a newspaper that focuses on homeless issues.

"I always tell people, it doesn't matter if you give money or not," she said. "You should just acknowledge that there is a person sitting there, instead of looking away or pretending that you're busy."

In some ways, acknowledging a human being on the downtrodden side of life is even harder than tossing loose change their way.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.