Under a proposal put before San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, homeless beggars would be equipped with machines to allow donations from major credit cards or bank ATM cards. "It's more than a Band-Aid solution," commented Karen Gatter, who formulated the idea. "What we're looking at is creating a means for homeless people to sustain themselves." Under the proposal, 80 percent of credit card donations would go to community homeless programs, and the rest to the individual solicitor. Mayor Brown said he was "excited by this innovative plan, which empowers homeless persons to take responsibility for their own lives." But Terry Hill, the city's coordinator for homeless issues, noted that for the plan to work, there would have to be some way to guarantee the security of credit card numbers.

Later, following an order by Mayor Brown to reclaim homeless persons' shopping carts, activists declared the carts to be works of art, and thus protected from confiscation under the First Amendment. Efforts to combat alcohol consumption in public parks also came under fire as a form of discrimination. "If you had just drunk a glass of Corbett Canyon [wine] and they came into your living room, wouldn't you think it's an invasion of your privacy?" asked Benny Joyner of the Coalition on Homelessness. "These [parks] are homes to the homeless."

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