| The Palo Alto History Project |
| The Median Strip Panhandling Ban Median Strips on El Camino Real, Near Stanford Shopping Center, Town & Country Village |
| 2006 |
| The Median Strip Panhandling Ban: Targeting the Homeless? Palo Alto in the late 1990s was changing. The Silicon Valley was booming and Palo Alto was increasingly becoming the home of the nouveau rich. As the stores along the University Avenue shopping corridor and in the Stanford Shopping Center began to change to serve a wealthier clientele, some believe that the city began to target the homeless. In 1998, the Council passed the sit-lie ban, prohibiting anyone from sitting or lying on University Avenue--- and in 2000, the city also banned so-called “median strip panhandling” at every major intersection along El Camino Real as well as in the parking lot entrances to Stanford Shopping Center and Town & Country Village. But were these laws about the homeless? It is true that the median strip panhandling law did punish drivers who gave money as harshly as the panhandlers and solicitors who asked for it --- and neither law specifically mentioned the homeless. Teenage smokers sitting on University Avenue and Little Leaguers soliciting money for new uniforms were just as liable. But the adoption of the new laws was led by 1999 Palo Alto Mayor Gary Fazzino, a staunch business ally, as well as business owners like as Roxy Rapp (who often complained about homeless loitering outside Starbucks) and Ron Wilson, general manager of Town & Country Village (who complained about median panhandling near the shopping center’s entrance). During the debate there was much talk in op-ed pieces and public forums about the danger of Palo Alto becoming another homeless haven like Santa Cruz or Berkeley. Supporters claimed both laws were passed in the interest of public safety. In the case of the sit-lie ban, police and council members argued that those sitting on the street were distracting to walkers, creating a safety hazard for seniors especially. However, the police were unable to cite one incident of someone tripping over another person on University Avenue. Similarly, in the median panhandling ban, council members argued that “Selling articles or soliciting donations in the medians of the city streets…creates a real hazard to both solicitors and drivers themselves.” Continually, supporters claimed that the cause of the ban had nothing to do with panhandling, but was about driver distractions. But according to a Palo Alto Police report, “Intersections where panhandlers and solicitors often stand have no higher rate of collisions” than any others. Furthermore, police found that of 88 accidents at these intersections, not one listed soliciting from medians as its cause. As opponent and councilmember Jim Burch argued, "We're singling out a dozen people in five locations and making a law against them. People who drive while talking on cell phones are a bigger hazard than the 12 to 14 people who stand on medians." Time and time again, those in support of the bans argued that public safety was the issue. But to those who feel that the city was simply trying to get rid of its less desirables, such arguments seemed artfully disingenuous at best. -Matt Bowling |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| Former mayor Gary Fazzino, reading to a class in Barron Park |
| Roxy Rapp, grocery shopping |
| Town & Country Village |
| An El Camino median strip |
| 2007 |
1973 |
| The map below shows the El Camino Strip |
| This 1973 photo looks at the flooded intersection at Page Mill Road and El Camino Real. The shot is taken from a median strip where panhandling was allowed at this time, but not in later years. A Mobil Gas Station occupies a piece of land that has been the source of much debate in recent years. It was once targeted as the possible future home of the PAPD. Note the 37 cent price of gas! |
| The Bank of America building still dominates the background in the current picture, although much else has changed. The gas station has been replaced by Stanford athletic fields. Another turn lane has been added to El Camino to accommodate the many drivers who turn left to get on the Oregon Expressway. The palm trees surrounding the Olive Garden restaurant are at far right. |
| Sources: Palo Alto Historical Association, Palo Alto Weekly |