Posted on 08/27/2012 4:30:31 PM PDT by DJlaysitup
The city's current panhandling ordinance is rarely, if ever, enforced, according to police and attorneys who spoke recently to city council. Atlanta's anti-panhandling ordinance is "effectively, a worthless piece of paper" and might have to be scrapped or extensively rewritten to make it enforceable, said Michael J. Bond, chair of the City Council's public safety committee.
Atlanta has been trying to push back against panhandling for years, partly to appease downtown residents and partly to protect the city's lucrative tourism and convention industries, which bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors and millions in spending and taxes. And then there are the hundreds of thousands of workers who commute into the city from all over the metro region.
Mayor Kasim Reed took office in 2010 vowing to curb professional begging.
But a recent discussion over whether the city should toughen its existing ordinance revealed that since 2005, Atlanta police have not arrested people under the city's ordinance against "commercial solicitation," which was defined as asking for a donation of money "or other thing of value" without a permit. That doesn't include those sitting passively with a sign.
People have been arrested for panhandling-related infractions such as disorderly conduct.
(Excerpt) Read more at @ajc.com ...
I have been forced to walk the "Ghetto Line" between the train station and the ball field to watch a Braves game. They are all over you...they all say they are Reverends and need money for there Churches...it's insane.
here is direct link - note the last line of the article:
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/plans-for-crackdown-on-1507824.html
Yeah...F’n A Beasley...I don’t see any white people intimidating folks to give to their “Churches” and scaring the old folks into giving over 5 bucks with a 6-4 fella looking over their shoulder.
It's also free speech. If "aggressive panhandling" amounts to assault, then arrest the panhandler. Otherwise, I don't see how you pass a law banning someone from saying "Brother, can you spare a dime?"
This sounds like another situation which can only be solved via government intervention. Clearly the passage of more laws is what's necessary.
Parenthetically, down in South Florida where I live, there's no shortage of panhandlers of all races, whether aggressive or otherwise. There are plenty to be encountered even when I'm not in the "ghetto"...
Any photos of the Ghetto Line?
Note to Jack: I was cussing at the other guy.
You do know they show the Braves games on the TV?
Really? And you're OK with that?
It’s over - screw this place...I will write an opus tomorrow...or maybe tonight...yeah...tonight.
Right cheek or left cheek? LOL!
For those of you who don’t understand that you should get to go to a ballgame unimpeded I can only say - good for you.
Getting begged on by people who live in the park in tents and try to explain that they are reverends in their “churches” and *#%*&%@...I forgive you NOT.
Adious Free Republic...you are no longer...awe heck....forget it ...I was getting carried away and I don’t have the speed to go for an Opus since the pizza man just showed up.
Good will to all.
Am I "OK" with down-on-their-luck American citizens exercising their free speech by asking if I can spare them a dime?
Yeah, I guess I'm OK with that. I'd prefer that there were fewer of them. That's why I oppose collectivist authoritarian policies which inevitably increase the number of panhandlers one is likely to encounter...
OK, you obviously don't know what we're talking about on this thread.
I'm sympathizing with you.
If you're going to a Braves game, splurge for the parking. You'll enjoy the experience a great deal more.
OK - I give up - even though I work for a living and have the money to go down and watch a Braves game (and pay for it) I’m saying “poof”...I’ll just watchem on TV. I have no interest in trying to go down and watch a Braves game if it requires having multiple “fivers” to pass along.
Everybody seems to be a smartass around here lately, DJlaysitup, but I know what you’re talking about. What you experienced is not mere panhandling by the down and out, but what the City of Atlanta calls “aggressive panhandling” - a polite term for intimidation that is just short of strong-arm robbery. It is a problem for Braves, Falcons and Hawks fans, and a huge problem for Atlanta’s enormous convention business. But nothing is ever done about it because the professional racemongers cry “racism” whenever the complaints draw the mayor’s attention - just as you alluded to the last few sentences of the AJC article.
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