From Panhandling Disagreement to Vendor Friendship

By Raymond Jacobs

      In 2005, I went to City Hall against Brian Davis and NEOCH about the aggressive panhandling law. I sided with the police and Brian told me I was going to be sorry. I was a panhandler on East 9th and Euclid for many years. I sided with the police because they promised to leave me alone if I testified in support of this anti-panhandling law. [Editor’s Note:  NEOCH opposed the panhandling law in 2005 because it violated free speech rights and there were other laws such as menacing that could be used to curtail “aggressive solicitation.”  Raymond was recruited to testify as one of the “good panhandlers” to support the law.  He declared that he obeyed the rules but other panhandlers do not, and so Cleveland needs a law to get rid of some of the “bad panhandlers.”]

      The aggressive panhandling law went into effect. I left Cleveland for 6 months and when I came back they had the ambassadors riding around on bikes. They rode up on me and asked me if I knew who they were. I said, "Yes, you're here to get the aggressive panhandlers, but I'm not aggressive." Then a police officer came by and told them to leave me alone. The ambassadors left and never bothered me.

      In 2007, a supervisor from the ambassador’s program named Conway told me I either sell the paper or I wouldn't make any kind of money. I had an agreement with the police that they would leave me alone and he went against it. He said he didn't care what the agreement and I got moved out. I went down and talked to Helena, the social worker employed by Downtown Cleveland Alliance. She gave me $5 to buy papers from NEOCH. From that point on I started selling the Homeless Grapevine and then it shutdown. Then I went back to panhandling for a while and then I quit. I needed money so I begged Brian to bring back the paper.

      It started back up in December 2010 as the Cleveland Street Chronicle. I was the first vendor and then came Angelo. Two weeks later Buzzy came. Then Mike Vorhees and more vendors joined us. After I started selling the paper I understood some of the things Brian was trying to tell me. We worked out our differences and became friends. We have been friends ever since.