Kathleen Fitzpatrick wishes she had...

Kathleen Fitzpatrick wishes she had a dime for each time she's been called "bitch" or "whore" for refusing to expand her wallet to one of Chicago's in-your-face panhandlers.

"It's not [only] about females. I've been public with my boyfriend, go pair blocks down and, four times, family are . . . begging us for money" said Fitzpatrick, 40 managing partner of Mother Hubbard's, 5 W Hubbard.

"I've been called, bitch, whore, white bitch -- each name you can imagine. I've been chased down the way I've been threatened. I'm sick of it. .. I feel bad for these persons but at the same time, I don't perceive safe around them."

Four two-person teams of panhandlers "work the corner" of State and Hubbard, said Cynthia Inch, a part-time office manager at Mother Hubbard's.

"When my sister's in with her children, they tread close upon us down the street. They skip over in front of us. They don't hindrance you pass with the stroller" said Inch, 38

"It's not like the homeles folks who are sitting on the bridges and you can give them money"

Karen A. Egerer who works at Heartland International in the southern Loop, added: "Being intimidated from people you don't know asking for riches can be pretty frightening."

Fitzpatrick, Inch and Egerer told their panhandling horror stories Monday to a City Council committee considering a proposal from Ald. Burton F. Natarus (42nd) to ban aggressive panhandling.

The definition includes one of the same behaviors the women described: touching; following behind, ahead or alongside; blocking someone's path; soliciting a someone standing in line; using profane or abusive language -- either during the solicitation or following a refusal, and panhandling in a assemblage of two or more.

Panhandling would also be prohibited at bus stops, in public transportation vehicles or stations, in vehicles parked or stopped in public ways and alleys and within a 10-foot radius of an ATM, bank or bills and notes; circulating medium exchange. Sidewalk cafes and gas stations would also be off-limits. After bear upons were raised by Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) Natarus agreed to have the 10-foot radius apply to bus stops.

The revised ordinance is look fored to be approved by the Traffic Committee today, with glutted Council approval expected on Wednesday.

Colleen Davis, who gave $1 to common beggar just outside a Michigan Avenue Walgreens forward Monday, said the proposed ordinance goe too far, and she's going to call her alderman to describe him so. "Being hungry makes you mean," said Davis, a receptionist. "If you're healthy enough to get by heart up and go to a piece of work have some compassion ...

"There's laws already," Davis said. "We are just handing above more control to the government"

Another Walgreens customer Judy Miller, a legal assistant, said she didn't mind that common beggar was just outside the Walgreens door, about 20 feet away from the ATM inside. She said there were "bigger things" to worry about.

"I've lived downtown for 20 years and I've not encountered an aggressive panhandler," Miller said. "Why would you fine someone who has no circulating medium for a fine?"

Natarus patterned his ordinance after an Indianapolis law that has already passed constitutional muster, if it were not that the Chicago version is not quite as stringent. In Indianapolis, panhandling is prohibited after occident and the fine is $2500 In Chicago, there would be no after- dark prohibition, and the initial fine would be limited to $50

ed Shurna, a spokesman for the Coalition for the Homeles calculatored that "individuals who are begging for 50 cent are certainly not able to pay." He attacked the ordinance as "overly broad."

Contributing: Rosalind Rossi

Kathleen Fitzpatrick (left) and Cynthia Inch told their panhandler horror stories to the City Council.

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