Hello All
The government of the province of Ontario in Canada has just introduced the
'Safe Streets Act, 1999'
Bill. The thrust is to prohibit any kind of panhandling [from outright
begging to 'squeegeeing'] and would give police such widespread powers that
you cannot ask for money for a pay phone, public washroom or anything for
that matter without being subject to arrest.
I would be curious to hear from people in other countries/provinces to know
if similar kinds of legislation have been enacted there. I know for
instance in Los Angeles homeless people are routinely arrested for
'jaywalking'. In LA the purpose is not to extract money from the ticket
[although a mere $40 beyond what most can pay] but when they cannot pay it
they end up with a standing warrent which basically means they can be
hauled in at any time.
If enacted, this Bill could radically reconfigure the policing of social
relations in public space in our province.
For those interested the bill can be found at
http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/legis.htm
Sue Ruddick
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S u e R u d d i c k
Associate Professor
Department of Geography / Programme in Planning
Sidney Smith Hall
100 St. George Street
University of Toronto, Toronto
CANADA, M5S 1A1
(416)-978-1589 (tel)
(416)-978-6729 (fax)
[log in to unmask] (email)
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http://www.geog.utoronto.ca/deptinfo/SRuddick.html
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