Mayor de Blasio claimed twice Wednesday that some people begging for money on the streets are doing it for “fun” — enraging panhandlers who say they have no choice.
“With folks who are panhandling for a living or because somehow they think it’s fun, we’re still going to try and engage them — let them know it’s not a positive activity,” de Blasio said.
He later added, “There are also people who are doing it purely out of choice — this is a fact — who somehow think it’s fun or they think it’s a way to make easy money, and I resent that.”
Hard-up New Yorkers said he’s out of touch.
“It’s not fun asking people for money. People curse me out. How is that fun?” asked Donna Gay, 30, who was requesting spare change on Sullivan Street.
“De Blasio is a rich white man. He has never been in my situation, so he don’t know. I ran away from a group home at the age of 14. I’ve been doing this way too long not having fun.”
Indigents’ criticism of de Blasio — who decriminalized quality-of-life infractions like public drinking and urination — came five days after he said on the radio that he’d like to outlaw panhandling.
Hizzoner on Wednesday claimed more people are able to subsist off panhandling because “this city is at the highest point of compassion it’s ever been.”
If that’s true, the mayor himself isn’t showing it, another panhandler said.
“What a stupid comment to make — he has no compassion,” said David Mitchell, 38, an unemployed carpenter begging for money on West Fourth Street.
A change hustler at Rockefeller Center called de Blasio a hypocrite for panning panhandling while himself asking for handouts in the form of campaign contributions.
“It’s the pot calling the kettle black. Why is it OK for him to ask people for money, for help, and I can’t ask for help?” asked Chris Dellinger, 40.
De Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips argued that Hizzoner meant to say panhandlers who do it for fun are making the city’s neediest look bad.
“He’s making the point that not all panhandlers are homeless. It can skew the perception of the homelessness issue on the streets,” Phillips tweeted.
Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick and Elizabeth Rosner