City Of Tulsa Install Signs To Offer People Alternatives To Giving Money To Panhandlers

There are some relatively new signs up in Tulsa's District 7. The city installed new signs giving people the opportunity to learn about alternative methods to handing out cash to panhandlers on the side of the road at busy intersections.

This is a pilot program that gives people the chance to text the word "Tulsa" to 44-321 where they will be given a link to a website in which they can donate money to "A Way Home for Tulsa" which is a coalition of roughly 40 organizations in Tulsa working to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

According to District 7's city councilor, Lori Decter Wright, there has been a lot of positive feedback from the community so far.

"The goal was to do this pilot and get the data and feedback from the public. So far the public seems very enthusiastic. Business owners want to print copies of those signs and post them on their windows or even pay to put private signs on their parking lot. Again it's a way to teach the public that they do have alternatives to handing dollars at the window," Decter Wright said.

Right now, there are signs only in District 7. The Eastern 71st Street corridor is one of the locations where you can see some of the signs, but there is a possibility that the signs could be put up in different parts of the city.

"I imagine we'll do a three month and a six month look and then start to make some decisions about where we want to go next if we want to continue doing it. I cannot imagine that people would not want to do it. Like I said it’s been a very positive response just in the first two months," Decter Wright said.