Squeagee ban upheld

[Richards 0]

Thank god the SC had the cojones to do this. I only hope the cops can effectively enforce this.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/23/squeegee-court.html

My biggest handicap is that sometimes the hole in the front of my head operates a tad bit faster than the grey matter contained within.

[JohnRich 4]

The whole squeegee ban seems kind of silly to me. We've got lots of panhandlers here in Houston, some of them with squeegees. I find it easy enough to wave my hands to indicate to them that I don't want their services. And even if they wash your window, you're under no obligation to donate anything to them, although they certainly want you to feel moved to do so.

There's one homeless street bum I drive by every day who walks the lines of cars at a red light with a squeegee in his hands. However, he never has a bucket of water, and has never actually been seen to actually clean a windshield. It just seems to be a prop that says; "Hey, I'm willing to work for a donation, if you want me to!"

And I love the guys panhandling for food money with a cardboard sign saying "hungry", while sipping a $5 cup of Starbucks coffee.

[Richards 0]

I can see where the ban seems silly, but we have had problems with overly aggressive squeegee's or panhandlers. While you may not be under obligation to pay them if they go ahead and wash anyway, they seem to feel that you are. I suspect that you are the kind of guy who can handle himself so you might not face serious aggression since these guys pick their spots, but often if there is a senior citizen or a small female alone in the car the squeegee guy will hit the car with his squeegee if they do not pay, or he will bang on the window.

Some of the panhandlers here were getting extremely aggressive. I am a pretty big guy yet some of them have even made me feel a bit uncomfortable with their aggressive behaviour, so I imagine for a small lady or an elder it must be worse. Since the city started cracking down there has been a noticeable effect.

I suspect that the cops will not actually enforce the ban against all squeegees, so much as use it against the aggressive ones.

My biggest handicap is that sometimes the hole in the front of my head operates a tad bit faster than the grey matter contained within.

[JohnRich 4]

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I suspect that the cops will not actually enforce the ban against all squeegees, so much as use it against the aggressive ones.

Which is what they should have done in the first place, and then an overall ban against all of them would have been unnecessary.

There are too many things in life being made illegal for everyone, because of just a few bad apples. This is not the proper way to deal with problems. The proper way is to deal with the few bad apples, and leave everyone else the heck alone.

[Richards 0]

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I suspect that the cops will not actually enforce the ban against all squeegees, so much as use it against the aggressive ones.

Which is what they should have done in the first place, and then an overall ban against all of them would have been unnecessary.

But the problem is that the line between aggressive vs non-aggressive behaviour is subjective and this could make any legislation inneffective. It is a "catch all" so that when someone is being aggressive they do not have to go to court and prove he was aggresive. This sort of thing can work. Furthermore if the police receive complaints about a specific panhandler, they do not have to catch him in the act of being aggressive. They can just penalise him period and guys like him will get the message and behave.

My biggest handicap is that sometimes the hole in the front of my head operates a tad bit faster than the grey matter contained within.