Please Don't Feed the Bums

Business owners in Ocean Beach, CA are taking a bit more aggressive approach to local panhandlers:

A sticker with the phrase “Please don’t feed our bums” is stuck on storefronts around Ocean Beach and is based on satire of The National Park Service’s “Please don’t feed the bears” sticker. The sticker is also bringing a serious message.

“People who live and work in the area know how it feels to be harassed by these people,” said Chaz Lomack, who works at an Ocean Beach business.

The stickers are targeting a new group of homeless -- young aggressive panhandlers who choose not to work and ask for money instead.

“I’ve sat out on the corner asking for spare change. I’m out here for the simple fact that I’m a cancer patient. I have skull cancer … and can’t have a job,” said a homeless man who goes by the name of “Thumper.”

Others who hang around the south seawall in Ocean Beach say they want this lifestyle.

“Everything I’ve ever had in the material world failed me miserably,” said James Taylor. “Honestly … I’ve never been happier.”

An employee at an Ocean Beach store called The Black started carrying the stickers two weeks ago. Ken Anderson, who did not want to be interviewed on camera, said the stickers were meant to make the community realize the homeless population has become out of control.

“A lot of these kids have cell phones and they come from well-off families,” said Lomack.

There have even been reports of violence against people who do not give the homeless money.

“We don’t want them to do that because it is just enabling them to do their thing,” said Lomack.

I used to have some clients in Ocean Beach and it's a nice little area of San Diego and very popular with surfers. This is a creative approach to a problem the cops can't or won't deal with.