Panhandling, crime and city boundaries have become intertwined on the west side of Colorado Springs, and the Colorado Springs City Council told Mayor Steve Bach on Wednesday that they’re concerned about it.

During the fifth installment of Bach’s “counsel meeting,” an informal meeting of the minds between the nine council members and the mayor, the group touched on a range of serious issues, but didn’t take any action.

The group spent the first 40 minutes of their meeting talking about the weird boundaries by Old Colorado City and panhandling across the city. One problem, said councilmen Merv Bennett and Bernie Herpin, is that both are hampered by current law.

Bennett pointed out that the city’s boundaries on the west side exempt an RV park near the intersection of U.S. Highway 24 and 31st Street, behind a Taco Bell. Many people who live there are aggressive panhandlers, but live outside city limits and so can’t be arrested or ticketed.

“Ninety percent of the aggressive panhandling that’s taking place is not happening by homeless. It’s happening by people who live in different locations along that road,” said Bennett.

Not just that, he said, but many times panhandlers who own cars will hide in them until they see people walking out of restaurants or using ATMs. That way they can also hide from the police.

But the police often can’t do anything, partially because the panhandlers are then out of reach, on county land.

One solution the group discussed is annexing county land, or finding some legal way to absorb the area into the city.

There are problems with that, too. Though the city could annex a small part of county land on the west side — an isolated bit of land with a Smoker Friendly store in it — the rest would have to petition the city to be annexed.

“Instead of just trying to take the land over, it would be easier to go to the members of El Paso County and ask them if they want to be annexed,” said Councilwoman Brandy Williams. “You could kind of take them over, but I don’t think they’d appreciate it.”

The rest of the city is dealing with panhandling as well, council members told Bach. Councilman Tim Leigh had a half-serious suggestion that drew laughter from both the mayor and other council members.

“What about a change in ordinance, and have it written into the law that we pick panhandlers up, take them to the south end of town and let them go, so if nothing else, they have to walk back,” Leigh said, to laughs.

Bach commented into a microphone, “Meeting adjourned,” eliciting more laughs.

Other issues discussed Wednesday included: Long-term FREX program and possible city transit programs; city and mayor’s strategic plan; capital spending needs, and the council trip to Portland, Ore.

—

Contact John Schroyer: 476-4825 Twitter @Johnschroyer Facebook Gazette John Schroyer

Colorado Springs City Council Photo by City of Colorado Springs