A downtown Edmonton café has removed and apologized for a sign that was meant to deter panhandlers from asking its patrons for money.
Remedy Café recently posted a sign on its doors that read: “Zero tolerance for panhandling.”
Manager Samara Beaumont told CTV News she has witnessed aggression toward customers and staff from some panhandlers.
“They’re going up yelling at people, screaming at people, shaking things,” she said. “Trying to throw things at people as well.”
But downtowner and Remedy customer Elliott Tanti was bothered by the sign, saying he was significantly concerned about the phrase “zero tolerance.”
“When we talk about a zero-tolerance police, it’s almost exclusively devoted to talking about illegal or bad behavior.”
While it’s not illegal to panhandle, it is illegal to panhandle aggressively.
After Tanti was critical of the sign on Twitter, Remedy management moved it inside.
Now, the poster has been removed altogether.
“By no means did we mean for it to be put outside and it was unfortunately taken more of a negative way than it should be,” Beaumont said.
In a recent survey, the Edmonton Downtown Business Association heard panhandling was the biggest complaint amongst businesses.
“We just want to make sure that people that are out on the street are being treated with respect,” said Ian O’Donnell, executive director of the association. “But also people who are panhandling respect the private business.”
With files from Sarah Plowman
