Local business owner saws off bench to prevent panhandlers from loitering

Billy Scott says he was fed up with the panhandlers who loitered in front of his Franklin Street restaurant — so during the middle of the night Aug. 6, he took a saw to the bench they once sat on.

Scott, owner of the Front Porch, said panhandlers who vomit, urinate and harass customers in front of the restaurant have hurt his business since he opened in February.

He said he has contacted 911 three times in one day, but he has seen little response from the police or the town government.

“They’ve been talking about doing something for 10 years,” said Scott, a Chapel Hill local who said he has lived in the area for 61 years.

So he took the matter into his own hands and sawed off the bench in front of his restaurant.

“So far, it’s 100 percent better,” said Scott, who has a Sept. 29 court date.

“They said I destroyed property,” he said, explaining that he isn’t guilty of any such crime, since the bench remains fully intact.

“It just isn’t there anymore.”

Challenges to enforcement

Sgt. Allison Finch of the Chapel Hill Police Department said Scott did contact authorities about his panhandlers.

But panhandling isn’t illegal — it’s protected under the First Amendment — so unless panhandlers are aggressive or are violating other aspects of the Chapel Hill ordinance, police can’t make them leave.

Finch said panhandling is a persistent problem for Chapel Hill business owners, but complainants must go to court if they turn someone in for breaking the ordinance, which few are willing to do.

Beyond that, she said panhandlers must pay fines and court fees if they are cited for panhandling.

Because panhandlers often don’t have the money to pay the fees, they are simply jailed for a night and then released back onto the street.

“It’s kind of a revolving door,” she said.

Finch said she believes Scott’s action was aimed at one specific panhandler, who she has personally seen vomiting in front of Front Porch.

“While I don’t condone what he did, certainly it was more geared to this particular individual,” she said.

Panhandling profile

Finch said the panhandling population in Chapel Hill fluctuates, but when it becomes problematic, the police department steps up warnings and citations and sends plainclothes policeman into the street to find violators.

“People are going to push the limits, always. We’ll see them getting a little more aggressive … and then we see them cracking down and then it gets much better,” she said.

Finch said she suspects Chapel Hill has a steady group of panhandlers and homeless people because it offers services and students give panhandlers money.

In a 2008 report to the Chapel Hill Town Council, a task force estimated that panhandlers collect up to $100 a day.

Jamie Rohe, program coordinator for the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, said homeless people do move to places with an infrastructure to help them — but she emphasized that panhandlers aren’t necessarily homeless.

Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, explained that homeless people living in the IFC Community House are prohibited from panhandling. If they are caught doing so, they might be asked to leave the shelter.

But like homeless people, he said, panhandlers are a group in need, and it is important to understand where the people on the street are coming from.

“It’s better just to sit down and have conversations with people … without emptying your pockets,” Moran said.

He said giving panhandlers money keeps them from becoming self-sufficient and perpetuates the practice.

“Panhandling is not a crime, it really isn’t. Someone who’s homeless is not committing any crimes, anyone who’s poor isn’t committing any crimes,” he said.

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