Salsbury Mounts Anti-Homeless Campaign

In a new effort to deal with panhandling, the city of Salisbury, Maryland, has instituted new signs that read, “Don’t contribute to solicitors.” According to radio station WAMU, Columnist Kim Hudson of the Salisbury Independent, sparked debate about the signs in an editorial, stating that she feels the signs send the wrong message. Hudson believes the signs isolate the community in need, instead of educating the greater community on how to support solicitors.
Mayor Jime Ireton responded that the city contributes over $100,00 to charities and shelters and provides shelters to house the homeless in the winter. He defended the signs, remarking that they protect people from being “accosted” by “recalcitrant homeless people,” according to WAMU.
Hudson feels that the signs could be better crafted. Hudson asserts that instead of demonizing the homeless, the signs should include information on how people can support issues of homelessness and poverty in the community to help alleviate the root of the problem instead of pushing the homeless off to the side to protect others from discomfort.