Joliet toughens up on panhandlers

Joliet — Panhandlers working two Joliet corners during the Fourth of July weekend said the warning to stay out of the roadway is not a new one.

Even so, Joliet police said they issued four citations and three warnings for pedestrians in the roadway between June 30 and Monday in a new enforcement program aimed at panhandlers wandering into traffic.

Tyler Hunsinger, who was standing in the raised median on Mall Loop Drive, the main entryway off Route 30 into the Louis Joliet Mall area on Saturday afternoon, said one Joliet officer watched him for awhile and then came to speak to him.

“He came out to me, and he basically told me I can’t be impeding the flow of traffic,” Hunsinger said. “He said he wasn’t going to mess with me but that I couldn’t impede the flow of traffic.”

Hunsinger, who said he’s been panhandling off and on in between jobs for nearly two years, already knew it was illegal to block traffic while seeking money.

Panhandling itself is not illegal.

The city does, however, intend to curb panhandlers who venture into the roadway, Police Chief Bill Evans said.

“This was something that was brought to your office and to my office by the public,” Evans said to Mayor Bob O’Dekirk at a Tuesday meeting of the City Council as the chief gave an update on the panhandler enforcement program.

Most of the citations and warnings issued by police were at three locations: Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue, Cass and Collins streets and the Six Corners intersection.

Some panhandlers always have ventured into the roadway, said Ray Smith, who held a sign asking for money on Saturday.

“They don’t last long,” he said. “The cops get them out of here.”

Smith, standing in a raised median on Voyager Lane off Route 30 outside the McDonald’s near the mall, said Joliet police had been keeping their eyes on panhandlers long before last weekend.

“I’ve been doing this awhile so I know all the cops,” he said. “They’re more concerned about people going in the roadway. I’m in the median.”

His corner also provided a raised median where Smith could hold a sign asking for money while keeping out of traffic.

Most police know that he can panhandle. Some have even bought him dinner.

“Just because they’re cops doesn’t mean they’re not people, too,” Smith said. “They want to know your story.”

His story is that he lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic and lost his state identification card, too. It was a challenge getting a new identification card during the pandemic and impossible to get a regular job without one.

But Smith said he finally got an ID and just started working at an Amazon warehouse. He gets his first full paycheck on Friday, when he’ll give up panhandling, he said.

“I just try to make enough for my hotel room for the night and a little food,” he said.

He can sometimes make that in an hour on a good day when there is lots of traffic. On other days it can take up to five hours, Smith said.

Not all police want to hear his story, Smith said. Some won’t even listen when he tries to tell them that he has a right to panhandle.

“I know the game. I’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to respect if the cop tells you to leave. You got to leave.”

The American Civil Liberties Union doesn’t necessarily agree.

The ACLU in 2018 raised questions about anti-panhandling ordinances in Joliet and other Illinois municipalities.

ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka said Joliet enforcement against panhandlers in the roadway is fine as long as the city applies the same rule to everyone.

“If a charity is doing it, are they shooing them away as well?” Yohnka asked.

Representatives from nonprofits can be seen throughout the year walking up and down the lanes at intersections seeking donations during red lights, although they typically wear brightly colored vests alerting motorists to their presence.

Ashley Hill said she has been warned by both Joliet and state police when panhandling at the Interstate 55 interchange at Route 30.

“I have been told as long as we stay in the median, we’re fine,” she said. “It’s when we put a foot in the roadway, we’re not supposed to be there.”

Hill was panhandling after Hunsinger left the corner at the Louis Joliet Mall entry road. The spot is right by a Burger King where she recently put in a job application. It’s one of the many restaurants and stores in and around the mall where Hill said she would rather be working than panhandling.

But she has a criminal record, and Hill said that has made it impossible to get work for the past two years.

“They say it’s easier to get a job now, but it’s not necessarily true,” she said. “I’ve tried all the places around here but they won’t hire me because of my background.”