LAWTON – Before long, Lawton residents may see signs around town discouraging people from giving money to panhandlers. After a lengthy discussion on Feb. 13, the Lawton City Council directed city staff to create a sign program aimed at deterring panhandling and bring the program back to the council for approval.
Lawton’s panhandling problem is less severe than Oklahoma City’s but Lawton should take steps to address the issue, said Councilman George Gill. He added that signs warning Lawton residents not to give money to panhandlers could be the answer.
“In order to do this, we would have to come up with signs, which would not be a very expensive program to put them on some of the selected intersections,” he said.
Gill said the council would have to amend the city code to allow the signs at intersections.
But internal auditor Christine James said the city already has authority to install signs at intersections, so the council would not need to amend city code.
City Manager John Ratliff said a Lawton police officer, a representative from Ratliff’s office and other officials recently started participating in a city task force designed to address homelessness.
“We literally just directed that,” he said. “I know that there’s still panhandling out there, but it doesn’t seem like we’re really giving that (the task force) an opportunity to take root.”
Ratliff also said the city is bombarded with requests from people who want to put signs near intersections, especially during campaign season. He said if the city begins installing anti-panhandling signs near intersections, that could open the door to even more requests.
“It’s just going to be litter on a stick,” Ratliff said. “It’s going to be up and down our sidewalks and our streets. There’s some other unintended consequences that may occur if we approve this sign program.”