Panhandlers and Property Rights

Stephen Terence Gould had a column in this morning's Denver Post about panhandling. He says, contrary to the Denver Commission to End Homelessness, that we should "Give 'em a few bucks".

There's a simple solution to panhandling. Create a property right in the air space over the sidewalk and deed that property right to the adjacent business. Technically, anyone who walks through that air space is trespassing and the property owner, in this case the business, then has a legal right to tell that person to leave. The deed could grant an easement for sidewalk maintenance and law enforcement.

UPDATE: The Waterglass has more!