Don’t Ask, Don’t Give
The City Council has indefinitely tabled the Pan Handling Ban. Apparently, they can’t stand the heat, so they closed the kitchen.
The ban has a lot of problems, but there is a need for it. Recently, in Decatur, I witnessed what I can only describe a predatory pan handling. There was a guy trolling the public parking on Clairmont waiting for women to drive into a space. He would then approach the drivers side of the car and stand next to it, making it tough for the women to open the door. If they handed him money, he went away. He never touched them, he never touched the door, but his intent was obvious.
He didn’t do this to the men who pulled up, just the women. I can easily understand how they would feel intimidated.
The problem is that asking for money is obviously protected speech, and in order to define a behavior as crossing the line beyond protected speech, one must be able to delineate precisely where the behavior goes out of bounds in a non-arbitrary way.
The city should erect signs that discourage visitors from giving directly to Panhandlers, while asking downtown businesses to have collection cans for support agencies. The result is that panhandlers will be less effective and hence panhandle less. At the same time, people downtown will feel they have a charitable opportunity to make a difference. Council should then pass clarifications to the menacing statutes and encourage the police to enforce those laws.
Lastly, the state needs to make a committed effort to deal with the portion of Atlanta’s panhandling community that suffers from mental illness.
Keeping downtown enjoyable is important to the city’s growth, but keeping people free is even more essential.
July 22nd, 2005 at 11:06 am
Do you work for the ACLU? They could use some more people working for this cause!
July 22nd, 2005 at 12:21 pm
There’s free speech, and then there’s assault. Let’s not conflate the two.
July 22nd, 2005 at 1:52 pm
Atlanta will never change. No one cares. It is the have and have nots and the have nots are everywhere….
July 22nd, 2005 at 9:04 pm
Wow. Gloom and doom, anyone?
July 22nd, 2005 at 9:18 pm
No kidding. I can’t accept that. Anyone who says “nothing will change” doesn’t see the changes, even after they happen. Just from watching downtown over the past five years, I think it’s pretty safe to say that a lot has changed, and the changes will continue.
July 25th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Gloom and Doom maybe? Just seems that if you want to get folks from the suburbs to see this change then they need some action. The real test will be once the Aquarium opens and people stick around.
July 30th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
I think that aggressive panhandling is something that will have to be brought to heel. It is stupid that people who wish to enjoy what downtown has to offer have to put up with harrasment from a bunch of damn bums. I would also like to point out that the “homeless” advocates have ulterior motives in insisting that the bums be permitted to use, say, Woodruff Park as their own personal campground. The “homeless” advocates feel that “haves” should not be permitted to enjoy any aspect of their lives as long as “have nots” are having a hard go of things. For that reason, the “haves” must be continually inflicted by the presence of the “have nots”. Has a neat little socialistic bent to it, doesn’t it? I hope the city council will eventually show they have the balls to solve the problem. I will also be glad to see the day when Atlanta gets away from “WWMLKD” (What Would Martin Luther King Do) as its basis for solving every damn problem.
July 31st, 2005 at 1:35 pm
It’s one thing when people are truly destitute and cannot afford to buy food or shelter. (This isn’t 19th century London as nobody starves on the streets of ATL.)
It’s quite another when they panhandle to buy drugs or booze. I’m sure mental illness is a factor in the majority of homeless issues but you cannot force someone to seek treatment. I find it really odd how some are trying to turn this into a free speech issue when it’s really a harrassment issue.
July 31st, 2005 at 4:12 pm
I tend to agree with Henry and Matt here. People who want to enjoy downtown shouldn’t have to worry about being harassed/assaulted by panhandlers. Of course, you can’t just magically make all homeless people disappear - but if the city would put adequate effort into shelters, rehab programs, etc. then the problem might start to wane. (I am not being Bitchy McBitcherson here; I really don’t know how much time, effort, or money the city of Atlanta puts into dealing with the problem of homelessness. Just speaking in general terms.)