Iowa City charitable meters raise $800 in six months

IOWA CITY - Iowa City has collected nearly $800 in coins fed into downtown donation meters for charity - about what the city expected but well below similar programs in other cities.

Mayor Matt Hayek concedes the $791 raised through the 10 purple meters “is not a huge amount” but is on par with staff estimates before the meters were installed.

Other American cities with donation meters include Denver; Baltimore; Orlando, Fla.; and Nashville, Tenn.

Denver's program is well-established. The city of 610,000 put meters to use in spring 2007 and now raises about $100,000 a year for charity. About 70 percent of those donations, though, come from $1,000-per-year business sponsorships for each of its 86 meters, said Jamie Glennon, spokeswoman for Denver's Road Home.

“In Denver, our message is ‘There's a better way to give,' ” Glennon said.

Iowa City's meters, intended as an alternative to giving money to panhandlers, may be part of a future public art campaign to attract more money, said Linda Severson, human services coordinator for the Johnson County Council of Governments.

“It would be a combination of public awareness and public art,” Severson said.

Iowa City officials are hammering out a plan for local artists to decorate the meters, possibly by having businesses sponsor an artist with a $400 donation, said Marcia Bollinger, Iowa City public art coordinator.

The meters could be cycled out one-by-one for makeovers, so charities won't miss out on donations, Bollinger said.

The meters were installed in June, the same month a new ordinance went into effect to curb panhandling downtown. The new rules prohibit panhandling within 10 feet of a building, 15 feet of a crosswalk, 20 feet of ATMs and 10 feet from mobile vendors. Solicitors - including musicians and fundraisers - also must be at least 15 feet apart.

No one has been charged with violating the ordinance in the first six months, Iowa City Police Sgt. Denise Brotherton said. She did not know how many warnings had been issued.

The new panhandling rules require police to give a verbal warning before writing a $65 ticket, unless the offense is aggressive panhandling.

Ralph Johnson, 59, of Iowa City, doesn't like the donation meters, but said they haven't cut into the cash he receives in a red plastic coffee can.

"I don't see any use in those damn things,” he said, tipping his head toward a nearby meter. When people put money in Johnson's can, he uses it for medicine and milk, he said.

Johnson was warned earlier this month to move farther away from the crosswalk at Washington and Clinton streets, which he did.

Iowa City's meter money will be divided between three groups: the Free Lunch Program, Iowa City Free Medical Clinic and the Crisis Center of Johnson County. Three others - United Action for Youth, Community Mental Health Homeless Program and Shelter House - will share donations made in the first half of 2011.

“This is such a wonderful idea and such a wise use of a little bit of equipment,” said Mary Palmberg, director and volunteer coordinator for the Free Lunch Program, which serves 115 to 130 meals a day, six days a week, at the Wesley Center, 120 N. Dubuque St..

Free Lunch's share of the donations will go toward the 30 gallons of milk the program serves each week.

owa City's meters haven't been vandalized but have been forums for discussion. A sticky note attached to one meter proclaimed: “This meter won't sing you a song.”