To the editor:

Speaking of change (this is more a matter of small change than spare change), I’d like to submit an idea for the Lawrence community to consider. I think everyone involved could benefit. Anyone who is a “professional” panhandler must register with the city and agree to balance their panhandling hours with community service hours. A director of panhandling services would arrange for one block downtown to be the designated panhandling district and schedule the participants so they will each have equal access to the generosity of downtown patrons. In addition to the scheduling, participants would be issued three-piece suits, desks, chairs and other professional-looking perks.

The Lawrence Panhandling District would quickly become a tourist attraction, a model program for other cities around the nation and an opportunity to recruit the best and brightest panhandlers in the world… and we could call it “Wall Street West.”

Marc Jonathan Haney,
Ottawa