Millwood officials report sharp rise in panhandling

The city of Spokane Valley’s loss has been the town of Millwood’s gain, but Millwood isn’t the least bit happy about it.

Since Spokane Valley passed a tough new panhandling ordinance, donation-seekers have set up shop in Millwood to ply their trade.

“We’re seeing daily presence in our city park,” said Millwood Mayor Dan Mork. “We’re seeing people near the businesses at Trent and Argonne.”

Some people have been bold enough to knock on the doors of homes near the park on Frederick. Mork said a resident came to a recent City Council meeting to complain that one man knocked on her door to ask if he could borrow a barbecue to cook his meal. “This is three different homes that this has happened to,” he said. “I’ve been getting several phone calls from citizens. I’ve heard from council members that they have seen these things going on.”

Spokane Valley police Chief Rick Van Leuven said he is aware that panhandlers have been moving up the road to Millwood. He estimates that his officers have given warnings to 50 people and only had to issue a citation to one person. Most of the panhandlers Spokane Valley sees now are people just moving through the area who don’t know about the new law. “We’ve gotten really good compliance,” Van Leuven said. “They’ve been pretty congenial.”

Mork said he suspected that something like this would happen when he heard about Spokane Valley’s new ordinance. He said the city used to have problems with panhandlers a handful of times a month. Now panhandlers are seen almost daily.

Mork plans to address the issue in the town’s next newsletter by encouraging people not to give anything to panhandlers they may see. The town may also hold a workshop for local business owners. “We’re going to approach this from an education standpoint,” he said. “The aggressive panhandling will be handled through law enforcement.”

Millwood does not have a panhandling ordinance, so any arrests made would have to come under the laws addressing trespassing, harassment and public nuisance. SCOPE volunteers can take reports from citizens about problems that occur. “They will relay that to the sheriff,” Mork said. Serious incidents, however, should have residents picking up a phone to call 911.

Mork said he has no plans at this point to push for a panhandling ordinance despite the problems. The town’s attorney has expressed concerns about enacting such an ordinance. “There are some heavy First Amendment free speech” issues, Mork said. “To do what Spokane Valley has done takes a long time. We at this time are not going to invest in that type of project.”

Mork said he hopes that the panhandling problem will lessen over time. “I may be wrong,” he said. “It may be a bigger problem than we think.”