Vagabonds and the Vaguries of a Vagrant Government
Pan Handling and vagrancy are becoming more burdensome through out Metro Atlanta. They’re not just downtown anymore, but in Midtown, Decatur, Marietta, and other metro areas as well.
Recent studies have shown that laws designed to prevent pan handling and vagrancy are ineffective and not being enforced. Further, no one municipality has the resources to assist those who are homeless and mentally ill completely.
A carrot and stick approach is needed here, but tax payers won’t pay for the carrots and law enforcement is nervous about swinging the stick.
The problem needs a state wide solution. No one jurisdiction should be able to solve its vagabond problem by shifting the people onto the turf of another governmental authority and wiping their hands clean of it.
The State needs to pay for the carrot. Perhaps half the state’s Hotel/Motel tax portion could be applied to actually providing a stronger network so that the mentally ill have a post office box, someone to monitor that they’re taking their medication regularly, and have access to medical, banking, and social support resources.
That alone will free up thousands of annual law enforcement hours to really help patrol Georgia cities, and dissuage pan handling and other uncouth behaviors. Law Enforcement needs to know that they can be confident in their preventive measures and that they can put really troubled people into a safe system that will take care of them.
Will it cost money? You bet. Short term, it will cost more. But over a decade or two, it will make money because we won’t rank near the bottom of America’s Great Cities when it comes to feeling safe!
People will help pay for it! Metro Atlanta Cities should copy what Athens did. They put up clearly labeled parking meters urging everyone to give their change to social service agencies rather than pan handlers. The money does go to those agencies and it lets people feel they are making strong choices.
With people helping and donating, the business community can then go to the Governor and those running in 2010 and demand more effective action.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
The solution is to offer them free bus tickets to where ever they want to go.
I like the idea of setting up a bum zoo. Fence in Woodruff park. Install some vending machines so Atlantan’s can toss crackers, chicken wings (the bums loves ‘em some chicken wings), and other homeless treats to the zoo residents. It might even be nice to have some plaques set up around the park to help the locals identify different species of urban outdoorsman.
Until either of these solutions are implemented, I’ll continue on my current path. Most of the time I ignore them, but other times I like to give them quarters for tricks. Sit, lie down, rollover, fetch are simple tricks that any bum can do. I never fail to get a laugh when I see some vagrant go running down the street in pursuit of a rolling quarter. They’re faster than they look.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
Wow, what a nasty comment!
My approach is to donate to charities with a good track record: Atlanta Community Food Bank, Atlanta Union Mission, Salvation Army, and my church’s shelter for women. I never give change to panhandlers, because: (a) many are con artists - I’ve seen guys who were panhandling for years suddenly start saying they were “Katrina refugees” in fall 2005; (b) many use it to buy alcohol or drugs; and (c) it’s just a dumb way to organize help for people who really need it. We need not so much “spontaneous acts of random kindness” and more well-considered, deliberate acts of charity.
If you want to know which charities are effective and make good use of their donations, there are several online resources. Also, you can try volunteering, for a first-hand look at effectiveness.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:17 am
Isn’t part of that answer a federal government response?
The homeless and mentally ill travel between states, not just cities within the same state.
I agree, however, that if state like GA actually funded their mental health responsibilities, the situation would be helped dramatically.