{"id":76725,"date":"2018-02-20T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/downtown-durango-ambassadors-will-return-in-effort-to-curb-panhandling\/"},"modified":"2018-02-20T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T12:00:00","slug":"downtown-durango-ambassadors-will-return-in-effort-to-curb-panhandling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/downtown-durango-ambassadors-will-return-in-effort-to-curb-panhandling\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown Durango Ambassadors will return in effort to curb panhandling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Downtown
Downtown Ambassadors will return to Main Avenue on March 17 in an effort to channel donations from panhandlers to local human service charities.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Efforts to reduce belligerent or unsafe behaviors of panhandlers downtown will begin March 17 when Downtown Ambassadors make their first appearance of 2018 \u2013 asking shoppers to donate to charities to help people instead of providing loose change to those seeking handouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, it becomes a safety issue, and we want to minimize the worst behaviors you see downtown,\u201d said Tim Walsworth, executive director of Durango\u2019s Business Improvement District<\/a>, at the group\u2019s board meeting last week.<\/p>\n

BID and the Durango Chamber of Commerce plan to hold forum on panhandling at the Chamber\u2019s monthly Eggs & Issues breakfast on March 22.<\/p>\n

In addition, BID and the Chamber have begun to research ordinances around the country that have been adopted to deal with problems arising from panhandling, with Walsworth noting a measure that has helped in Tempe, Arizona. Tempe makes it illegal to sit on a public sidewalk or a median on a blanket, chair or stool from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Ambassadors, 10 of whom are undergoing training for the 2018 tourist season, will not interrupt a donation to a panhandler, Walsworth said. Instead, an ambassador who witnesses a donation to a panhandler will inform the donor about the Make It Count campaign, which has about 40 donation boxes in downtown locations and directs its donations to human service charities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will approach the donor in a friendly, nonjudgmental way and thank them for their generosity and inform them that there is a way to make a donation that is more effective,\u201d Walsworth said of the ambassador\u2019s approach after witnessing a donation to a panhandler.<\/p>\n

Walsworth said the eventual goal is to have 100 Make It Count boxes around town, but for summer 2018, he would like to add 10 new boxes.<\/p>\n

BID board member James Allred said approaching a donor after a donation would be \u201cgutsy.\u201d He added, \u201cbut making a change is going to be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Mahoney, also a board member, worried that approaching a donor, especially if the person is from out of town, might be counterproductive and hurt the donor\u2019s feelings.<\/p>\n

But Walsworth said the ambassadors would be trained to make the interactions friendly and informative about best ways to help panhandlers.<\/p>\n

Board member Erica Curlee believes the interactions will be helpful.<\/p>\n

\u201cDurango isn\u2019t the only town with this problem,\u201d she said, adding the effort would help a broader nationwide educational effort to steer people to more effective ways to help panhandlers in any community.<\/p>\n

BID will also update the materials it provides to merchants about panhandling, including a laminated card explaining applicable laws about panhandling and phone numbers downtown employees can call to deal with inappropriate behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not one thing that\u2019s going to eliminate all the problems. It\u2019s a bunch of little things that have to be done,\u201d Walsworth said.<\/p>\n

Beyond dealing with panhandling, ambassadors will be trained to provide information about downtown, Durango and the region. Also, they will help deal with issues that arise from activities such as smoking, littering, skateboarding and interactions with dogs.<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

other towns being examined for answers in city<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[314,28,611],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-76725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-downtown-durango","tag-headlines","tag-homelessness"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76725"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=76725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}