Begging ban misses the point.

• Author: McFarlane, Clive
• Position: Local

Byline: Clive McFarlane

A long time ago when I was working an eight-hour graveyard shift and carrying a full college course load during the day, I gave a hitchhiker a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. I was heading to my apartment in San Rafael. He was heading to wherever the road took him.

He was well-spoken, appeared a bit younger than I was, but had already completed college. We talked a bit, and after I had proudly discussed my hectic schedule, his rejoinder startled then irritated me.

"I don't do the 9-to-5 anymore,'' I recall him saying. He went on to explain that he had no cares in the world, that he just wandered to wherever his heart harkened. I thought he was attacking not just my way of life, but the social contract that binds us as a society.

"Well, what if I didn't give you ride?'' I asked, implying that he was partly financing his carefree life on the product of my labor.

"Someone else would,'' he responded without missing a beat.

I tell this story as a roundabout way of addressing what is really at the core of a Worcester ordinance against begging -- the fear that panhandling is a threat to the social contract, that it is an erosion of the idea that everyone must pull their weight.

The ordinance that was passed to curtail "aggressive'' panhandling and to promote safety is being challenged by the ACLU. After a preliminary injunction was denied in federal court and that decision was upheld by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme court will decide next week whether to consider the case.

The ACLU argues that the ordinance "violates the constitutional right to peacefully solicit donations in public and to engage the public in political and other speech.''

The city says no such constitutional violation exists.

Yet, beyond this constitutional fight is the belief by city leaders that begging is unnecessary, unproductive and a stain on a city that is on the move. Prior to passing the ordinance, for example, the city formulated an outreach program to help panhandlers gain access to housing, medical services...