There are a dozen new blue boxes around downtown Louisville that leaders hope will curb panhandling and direct money to organizations that help the disadvantaged. Called Positive Change, the program allows you to drop in money that will go to the Coalition for the Homeless. Boxes are located along Main, Fourth, and Jefferson streets.
Last year, we called for a similar program enacted a couple years ago in St. Louis called Real Change that used old parking meters to collect change, but these boxes appear to have a couple distinct advantages. They won’t clog or jam and they accept paper bills for those without coins. Perhaps this pilot could eventually expand to other neighborhoods around Louisville.
Have you given to the box yet?
Founder and Editor at Broken Sidewalk
Branden founded Broken Sidewalk in 2008 while practicing architecture in Louisville. He continued the site for seven years while living in New York City, returning to Louisville in 2016. Branden is a graduate of the College of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, and has covered architecture, design, and urbanism for The Architect's Newspaper, Designers & Books, Inhabitat, and the American Institute of Architects.
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Thanks for letting everyone know about this great program. The Positive Change effort sprang from the Physical Improvement Committee of the Louisville Downtown Management District and, subsequently, from a diverse partnership including: LDMD, Downtown Development Corporation, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Metro Police, Metro Alcohol and Beverage Control as well as Councilmen Tandy and James. We are proud to be part of this program.
Ken Herndon
Director of Operations
LDMD
Other partners…The Healing Place, PARC and, of course, the Coalition for the Homeless….thanks to all!
OMG! Metro government has taken over the spare change industry with high-tech, cutting-edge mechanical bums.
I just hope that they dont use the spare change for the liquor store like most of the people who bum it off me…
I’m not understanding the logic of this. Why not cut out the middle man and give your change to the homeless people asking you for it. I walk by these blue boxes all the time and they tend to be placed in areas where there is a massive homeless population. It would make me feel terrible to drop my dollar in a box instead of in the actual hand of a person that I can see and who needs it now. This isn’t going to curb panhandling. It is just going to make people uncomfortable with the idea of homeless people feel better about themselves.