Well after a while, you d start to see three beggars on one side of the bridge, or maybe just two, with the third one lying on the ground next to the entrance to the bridge. Yeah, that s an appetizing site when you re on your way to get lunch. After a couple days of three bums to a side, the turf wars started. Well, that might be over-stating it a bit, but seeing as how the beggars haven t unionized or anything, you start to see them get in arguments over who really ought to be begging where. This can be a very interesting site to see, especially if they re screaming at each other and trying to panhandle at the same time.
People generally try and get out of the way when a couple of bums are having a violent argument.
I d love to see the look on the face of whoever planned the project, if said person was asked to comment on the Wacker construction project causing turf wars among beggars. I m figuring the reason this Wabash bridge gets more beggars than the Michigan Avenue bridge, which generally just has one beggar one each side of the bridge, and even then, they re usually of the street musician variety, which is less annoying, and even amusing on occasion, is that there aren t many tourists on the Wabash bridge. No, it s preferable to let the working stiff get panhandled, rather than exposing the tourist. They seem to have opened up a couple more bridges to foot traffic in the last week, and I haven t seen any more three beggar to a side days. Then again, I did see one of the regular beggars, switching spots and trying her hand at selling StreetWise, which would, theoretically, be a step up in the world.