https://www.economist.com/united-states/2022/12/15/a-city-experiments-with-paying-people-not-to-be-annoying

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United States | Or else

A city experiments with paying people not to be annoying

Baltimore's squeegee kids are the subject of a new policy experiment

BALTIMORE, MD- JUL 28: A young man (one of a group of "Squeegee
Kids") offers unsolicited windshield cleaning services on U.S. Route
40 just west of downtown Baltimore, Maryland on July 28, 2022. The
squeegee crews have been in the news lately after a violent incident
in Baltimore. (Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via
Getty Images)
Dec 15th 2022 | BALTIMORE
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In 1993 Rudy Giuliani won New York City's mayoral race by promising
to crack down on crime. The former prosecutor vowed not only to
shackle murderers and rapists, but also to rid the city of "squeegee
men" who, sometimes menacingly, washed car windows for cash at red
lights. The new mayor's cops took to the streets and by the late
1990s the men were gone.

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Baltimore did no such thing. There, it has long been teenagers who
squeegee, ditching school to make ends meet. The city has for years
tolerated "squeegee kids"--poor black boys as young as eight years
old--leaping into rush-hour traffic. But sentiments changed when a
14-year-old window-washer fatally shot an aggravated driver in July.
Commuters now take circuitous routes, afraid of what the boys will do
if they refuse service. More than ever, squeegee politics are the
talk of the town.

The mayor has intervened. From January squeegeeing will be banned at
six of Baltimore's busiest intersections, and vans will pluck
squeegee workers off street corners and return them to school. More
contentiously, the city will pay older squeegee kids $15 an hour to
work or enroll in job training instead of washing windows.

Baltimore is not the only city experimenting with cash incentives.
San Francisco gives teenagers who lash out in school $500 a month if
they sign up for mentoring and stay far from trouble. Atlanta offers
stipends for "water boys", who sell bottled water in traffic jams, to
give up their gig and attend summer classes.

Some think this a bad idea. A former Baltimore police commissioner
said paying squeegee kids to stop amounts to extortion. Larry Hogan,
Maryland's outgoing governor, called for "crackdowns, not handouts".
But getting kids off the streets is not simple. Squeegeeing is
technically panhandling, which in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled is
protected under the First Amendment. Previous attempts to criminalise
it were blocked by the courts.

The mayor's less hawkish strategies may not work. The evidence on
whether job-training programmes keep kids out of trouble is mixed.
Even enlisting teenagers could be hard. Squeegee kids working the
city's main arteries told your correspondent that they make $200-300
a day wiping windows. On a hot summer day they can make as much as
$600. After taxes, an eight-hour work shift at $15 an hour would
yield just a fraction of that. Some, however, would take the pay cut
for a stable job. Squeegee work is gruelling. Drivers sometimes pull
guns on the kids. "It's as rough as trapping," says one, referring to
the perils of selling drugs.

Even if the plan diverts some teenagers, as long as squeegeeing
remains profitable they will be replaced by others, warns Philip Cook
of Duke University. Suppressing demand may be the best way to curb
the practice. But some locals want to encourage the young folk who,
unlike many of their peers, go after money legally. Many come from
violent neighbourhoods and are years behind at school. Despite being
adolescents, some of them are bringing up toddlers. "These kids are
entrepreneurs," says Faith Leach, the mastermind behind Baltimore's
plan. The city is trying to tap into that. But as long as drivers
reward the hustle with cash, Baltimore's boys will continue to soap
up windscreens. #

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print
edition under the headline "Or else"

United States December 17th 2022

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  * A city experiments with paying people not to be annoying
  * E-cigarette taxes may reduce teenage drink-driving deaths
  * Republicans should leave Hunter Biden to his painting, and the
    Justice Department

The winter warThe winter war

From the December 17th 2022 edition

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