There are several bits of misinformation regarding Real Change and the Downtown Seattle Association’s Have a Heart panhandling education campaign that need to be put to rest.

The first is that we endorsed the DSAs campaign at its outset in exchange for their support of Real Change. In fact, we never endorsed the campaign, although we were asked to reconsider this decision several times. Moreover, we advised others to decline as well.

We told the DSA that their campaign, insensitively handled, could negatively affect our vendors and further stigmatize the poor. If their materials focused on positive alternatives to support for panhandling and avoided negative portrayals of the street homeless, we said, Real Change would not organize against them. Real Change effectively killed an attempt to gain human service buy-in for a similar campaign a few years earlier, so this was a matter of concern.

While I was satisfied that the DSA’s brochure and posters met the criteria, Real Change declined endorsement, as well as numerous offers to provide brochures to our vendors.

The second, conversely, is that I described the Have a Heart brochure campaign as a “war on the poor.” This comes from a Post-Intelligencer reporter taking a broad statement about the criminalization of the urban poor out of context. I never said it.

The DSA’s recent rhetoric on this issue is an escalation of what is likely a long-term campaign against visible poverty downtown. Today’s editorial reflects where we stand.

Read daily posts by Tim Harris at apesmaslament.blogspot.com.