Just read Ian King’s Ballotbox Bulldog column this week in Terminal City, where he modest-proposals Lorne Mayencourt’s Safe Streets Act:

A new breed of panhandler has cropped up, and they have no respect for the law, especially the Safe Streets Act. These panners stroll the streets in two-and three-piece suits and business attire, soliciting passers-by as if it were their right to do so.

Sometimes it’s a well-meaning “Buddy, can you spare a vote?” Other times, these new-school panners insist on giving us their whole life story explaining why they’re out begging.

(Been there, done that. Carleton-Gloucester, 1988. The carnage was terrible. The wounds still ache when the weather changes.)