The increase of homelessness in Massachusetts has left some with no other option than to ask strangers for money. Silently soliciting for cash with signs or a can on medians within the commonwealth has angered some residents claiming that it makes the city look undesirable.

This is the case in Pittsfield. Many residents have voiced their concern that there are too many panhandlers within the city and the optics are terrible. Panhandling is not illegal in Massachusetts, but if it becomes a safety issue, action can be taken.

Mayor Peter Marchetti is planning to go in front of the city council next week with a proposal to combat the safety issue. The mayor says he has data showing that traffic accidents are happening much more often in intersections where panhandling is occurring.

The "Median Safety and Pedestrian Regulation in Public Roadways,” the amendment to city code would make it illegal to “utilize a sidewalk, median, crosswalk, center traffic island, or safety island to impede traffic flow or endanger themselves, other pedestrians, or motorists” on some of Pittsfield’s major thoroughfares. -wamc.org

Mass. City Wants To Make 'Panhandling' Illegal Resulting In Protest

Some protesters gathered at Park Square in Pittsfield on Tuesday saying they're not buying it and that this bylaw would be masquerading as pro safety but in reality just anti-panhandling.

Folks were holding signs expressing opposition to Marchetti's proposal with, "Marchetti doesn't care about poor people", and "Poverty isn't a crime".

The city of Fall River tried to oust panhandlers in 2020, but a Massachusetts Supreme Court judge ruled against it.

There can be little doubt that signaling to, stopping, or accosting motor vehicles for the purpose of soliciting donations on one’s own behalf poses no greater threat to traffic safety than engaging in the same conduct for other non-prohibited or exempted purposes, such as gathering signatures for a petition, flagging down a taxicab, selling newspapers or soliciting donations for a nonprofit organization,” Lenk wrote. -masslive.com

We'll see what becomes of the mayor's proposal to the council next week.

What do panhandlers earn?

One panhandler was asked on Tuesday how much he earned to which he replied $20 a day, according to wamc.org.

A few years ago, a panhandler told the Chief of Police he earned $300 a day.

I was in my cruiser and in uniform when I rolled my window down and asked this panhandler how he was doing when he asked me for a bottle of water.

Unfortunately I do not, but there is a Dunkin' right there and I can grab one for you, I said. We got to talking at the red light when I said, humor me, what do you guys make a day on average?

He makes about three hundred dollars a day and he is asking me for a bottle of water. I assume he is asking me for a water because he doesn't want to leave his post because then someone else will grab it.

He said he was saving to get a motel room. -Tom Dawley, Pittsfield Police Department.