Providence officials must be willing to take on the ACLU and address the ever-more-serious panhandling and loitering problem in Providence. It seems obvious that the city’s failure to stop this epidemic is drawing in more panhandlers in what is not really a freedom-of-speech issue but a public-disorder one. These people are causing traffic problems, littering and harassing citizens just trying to go about their business. And, of course, hurting the economy. Time to enforce common-sense ordinances. Go up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
-- Robert Whitcomb
