Panhandlers continue to be a nagging problem in downtown Schenectady. Besides witnessing mooching myself, I often hear others complain about the situation.
Most recently, I received an e-mail from a guy explaining three separate incidents involving people asking for handouts.
Just the other night, he and his family were leaving the Aperitivo Cafe near Proctors. He said he held the door open for a man he thought was an incoming customer. Come to find out he was asking customers for cash.
The panhandler said he needed money for bus fare to Albany. The e-mailer and his family then walked toward the Bow Tie Cinema, where a woman tried to hit them up for a dollar. On a previous downtown trip, he said another sponger was working the front of Bombers Burrito Bar.
Ironically, the night I received this e-mail, I was also downtown in front of the Hampton Inn where a guy who clearly had one too many asked if I had "some spare change.''
After I refused the request, I watched him enter Bombers and head straight for the upstairs bar. He apparently had enough money for at least one drink but figured he might as well try and hit up this old guy for enough to buy a nightcap.
The e-mailer said panhandling is a hard to control nuisance. "I don't know how Schenectady hopes to attract people downtown when this is going on,'' he wrote. "I feel bad for street people, but there is only so much you can do to help them.''
Logged
