Is begging a yes or no question?

There's a homeless guy named Ed who hangs around Seattle Center, begging for change with the specificity of an accountant.

"How about 25 cents, 10 cents, five cents or a penny?" he called out the other night. I'm one of those conflicted people who sometimes gives to panhandlers and sometimes doesn't. I've heard that it enables them. That it's better to give to charity or government aid programs.

Better for whom, I wonder.

Anyway, maybe because it was dark and I had a 4-year-old in tow, I went into classic beggar avoidance mode. I looked away. I mumbled "sorry." I started to hustle on by.

Exactly what a new color brochure issued by the Downtown Seattle Association advises everyone to do.

"It's okay to say 'no' to panhandling, and 'yes' to giving," reads a fake cardboard sign, gripped by a homeless man, pictured on the pamphlet.

The group started handing out the brochure to shoppers and tourists this week. It gives a few tips on dissuading panhandlers — such as saying "no" or "sorry" — and lists 12 charities you can give to instead.

Panhandling has tripled downtown in the past year, according to counts by the Metropolitan Improvement District, the private street patrol.

"It's an education campaign, including, hopefully, for the panhandlers themselves," said Anita Woo, spokeswoman for the business group. "Maybe they'll learn about services they could be using instead."

Maybe. I don't have much issue with this mild anti-panhandling push. What I take issue with is the notion there's a right answer — a yes or a no — to the nagging ethical and moral dilemma posed by begging.

Seattle attorney Peter Friedman discovered this after he and a fellow lawyer became weary of walking the gantlet of outstretched hands. So they set up an account at Bakeman's deli and began handing out cards worth a free sandwich.

Of about 60 cards passed out, not a single one was redeemed for a sandwich.

"I guess the homeless weren't that hungry," Friedman says. "Or maybe the homeless don't like the selection at Bakeman's."

He was kidding, but the concern is real. Are we being scammed by addicts? What do panhandlers really want?

Which brings me back to Ed at Seattle Center. As I was trying to rush past, my son noticed Ed's two sleeping bags.

"Dad, is that guy camping?" he wondered.

We went back. Ed is from New England. He says the cold doesn't faze him. He showed us the shrubbery where he was bedding down for the night.

It's better than the homeless shelters, "where you have no control over your life," he said.

You hear this a lot from street people. They know they can get help. What they're struggling to retain is some semblance of free will.

I gave Ed a buck in change. That hardly buys freedom. I can't see how a buck is enabling his homelessness, either.

In fact, this time what it got him was a cup of coffee.

Snow was on the way as we walked to our car, Ed's patter in the distance. It's true it's OK to say "no" to panhandlers. It's OK to say "yes," too.

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday.

Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.