I've written previously on how tough this crackdown has been and word on the street is that it's been one of the worst many "oldtimers" have been through. I was writing a draft post regarding Atlanta's treatment of the Homeless this morning but didn't finish it in time and had to get to work. I think it's actually more pertinent here, and the reason I say this is because although we view the recent crackdown as a tough one, Atlanta puts Nashville to shame in their tough, often mean and occasionally brutish treatment of the Homeless.
Make no mistake, Atlanta doesn't screw around with the needs and wants of the Homeless. They are ranked as one of the top 20 meanest cities towards the Homeless in the US and the clients I have who have passed through - or been kicked out of - Atlanta unanimously state that when compared to that city, Nashville is Paradise.
One of the reasons I suspect Atlanta has taken such a hard line with their Homeless population is because they can.
Please let me explain. Atlanta is one of the cities that the National Coalition For the Homeless (NCFH) places in their top 5 of the meanest cities, and they earned this additional distinction with the NCFH because, "Over the past year, the practices in the following top 5 meanest cities stand out as some of the worst examples of inhumane city treatment of homeless and poor people." I've presented the entire top five list here for comparison (you can check out the top 20 right here):
#1 Sarasota, FL. After two successive Sarasota anti-lodging laws were overturned as unconstitutiona
l by state courts, Sarasota passed a third law banning lodging outdoors. This latest version appears to be explicitly aimed at homeless persons. One of the elements necessary for arrest under the law is that the person “has no other place to live.” #2 Lawrence, KS. After a group of downtown Lawrence business leaders urged the city to cut social services and pass ordinances to target homeless persons, the city passed three “civility” ordinances, including an aggressive panhandling law, a law prohibiting trespass on rooftops, and a law limiting sleeping or sitting on city sidewalks.
#3 Little Rock, AR. Homeless persons have reported being kicked out of bus stations in Little Rock, even when they had valid bus tickets. Two homeless men reported that officers of the Little Rock Police Department, in separate incidents, had kicked them out of the Little Rock Bus Station, even after showing the police their tickets. In other instances, homeless persons have been told that they could not wait at the bus station "because you are homeless."
#4 Atlanta, GA. Amid waves of public protest and testimony opposing the Mayor’s proposed comprehensive ban on panhandling, the City Council passed the anti-panhandlin
g ordinance in August 2005. In the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Atlanta stood firm in its resolve to criminalize panhandlers. A Katrina evacuee who was sleeping in his car with his family after seeking refuge in Atlanta was arrested for panhandling at a mall in the affluent Buckhead neighborhood, even after he showed the police his Louisiana driver’s license, car tag, and registration as proof that he was a Katrina evacuee. In addition, during the first week in December, the Atlanta Zoning Review Board approved a ban on supportive housing inside the city limits. #5 Las Vegas, NV. Even as the city shelters are overcrowded and the city’s Crisis Intervention Center recently closed due to lack of funding, the city continues to target homeless persons living outside. The police conduct habitual sweeps of encampments which lead to extended jail time for repeat misdemeanor offenders. In order to keep homeless individuals out of future parks, the city considered privatizing the parks, enabling owners to kick out unwanted people. Mayor Oscar Goodman fervently supported the idea, saying, “I don’t want them there. They’re not going to be there. I’m not going to let it happen. They think I’m mean now; wait until the homeless try to go over there.”
Now, I'm not sure what the economic status of the first three cities currently is, but I do seem to recall that both Atlanta and Las Vegas are booming beyond anything imaginable, in both business and "bricks and mortar" projects, in their downtown districts. The money flowing into these cities boggles the mind and you can rest assured that developers and investors are going to be applying political and community pressure wherever and whenever it might be needed to ensure their huge investments get all the care and attention necessary to pay off. This is not in and of itself always a bad thing, but it is often a fact of life that must be considered when one plans various strategies for assisting their constituency. Add to this scenario the desire for up and coming businesses and those serving them a need to conform to local perspectives in order to be included in the "club" and you can quickly see how easy it is for those who want to get their way to be able to do so. Finally, add to this potentially repressive mix the fact that the Homeless don't garner much positive interest in the general scheme of things when the general public thinks about issues that matter to them related to their fair cities (See affordable housing/housing for the Homeless info re Nashville Mayoral Candidates), and you begin to understand just where the Homeless rank when it comes to concerns about what to do with them. Now I realize I'm using some very shaky, anecdotal and somewhat biased information to buttress my point here, but I think one can extrapolate enough from this informal discussion to realize that the Homeless - in just about any major city - rarely enjoy a majority of support from those who make the decisions on how to help address their problems. Obviously, this has great potential to be a very bad thing for them, even in the best of circumstances, since if you cannot exert political or economic pressure, you're left with only one option -the law - and that is often questionable in its ability to assist, as well as always being costly to initiate. To add insult to injury, when a small number of those same Homeless folks make life miserable for others (including their Homeless brothers and sisters), whether through aggressive panhandling, public urination/defecation, drunkenness, crack crime, etc., the desire to help among those of us who do care has the potential to plummet still further. Oh sure, there will be some folks who will come out against the inhumane treatment of their less fortunate citizens, and occasionally there will even be a small victory or two for those of us who complain loudly and long enough - the squeaky wheel gets the grease and all. But in the end, most of those who make the big decisions will not be listening to the small minority who stand up for the Homeless. Nosiree folks, they will almost certainly be advocating for those who can fill their coffers, cash registers and bank accounts, and since the Homeless aren't able to do any of the above with any strength or consistency at all, it seems pretty easy to guess where the majority of support will be going. And by the way, there isn't a thing wrong with wanting to make some money or a businessperson wanting the best environment possible in which to ply their trade or hawk their wares. Earning a living is damned important and it should be protected to the fullest extent we are capable. The point here is that since the Homeless aren't very powerful in these areas, it behooves them to find alternative ways to interact positively with the folks who can help them, in both the short-term (a sandwich for sweeping the walkway, free coffee on a cold day, etc) and in the long-run (business partnerships and donations for shelters, housing, employment, healthcare. etc). Meanwhile, those of us who do stand up and make some noise just might find ourselves out of a job, alienating friends, and going broke in the process. In a war of attrition with some of these groups, we are horribly outnumbered, outspent and outmatched. For those who must choose between the self-preservation of a current lifestyle versus the possibility of losing it all -and perhaps even joining those they are advocating for - simply because of standing on principles for someone they don't even know - the choice isn't difficult at all, especially when a few bad apples spoils the whole bunch - and we're always made aware of the deeds of those bad apples, aren't we? I've said this to friends when I first moved here and I suspect it's truer now than when I mentioned it previously; Nashville's business community is on the cusp of becoming large enough and wealthy enough to simply walk over the Homeless with impunity (check out how Atlanta's did just that "amid waves of protest"), and anyone else who might get in the way, should they so desire. That they haven't so far is a testament to the wonderfully compassionate nature of folks in this town. But there's plenty of new blood moving in, and much of it hasn't been inculcated with the sense of community care and concern that many long-term Nashvillians have spread amongst their less fortunate brothers and sisters in the city. Now this is not to say that those coming into Nashville and helping to bring the city greater wealth and prosperity aren't compassionate, but it certainly behooves us...in fact, it is is absolutely essential, that the advocates for the Homeless and the less fortunate find ways in which to reach out to the powers in the towers and begin working together, before we awaken one morning to discover that Nashville has joined the ranks of America's meanest cities towards the Homeless. The writing's on the wall, folks, and you don't have to go very far to see that wall..... 7/22/2007
 | Metro police Sgt. David Rueff, left, and Commander Andy Garrett pose with a sign encouraging people not to give to panhandlers outside Central Precinct in Nashville Thursday. (ALAN POIZNER / FOR THE TENNESSEAN) |
Crackdown on homeless brings results
Police arrest 100 in 5 weeks; troublemakers are targetedDetective Steve Ray cringes when describing the morning he got his up-close and too-personal demonstration of why Nashville needs a downtown housekeeping project targeting vagrants.
It was about 8:30 in the morning and the detective was confronting a guy who was aggressively panhandling at a parking meter between Sixth and Church."A guy walks up, faces us in the alley, and urinates," Ray said. "He was within six feet of trash cans, so he could have hidden himself. But out in the clear, that's indecent, and there were people watching."
Cracking down on vagrancy is the purpose of the so-called "quality of life initiative" being carried out by undercover officers in Nashville's downtown and West End corridor.
Metro police Sgt. Tony Blackburn defined aggressive panhandling this way: "They intimidate people and won't take 'no' for an answer."
In five weeks, Central Precinct officers have made 51 arrests, issued 31 citations and identified 76 Metro ordinance violations. In the West Precinct, which covers Broadway and West End west of Interstate 40, primarily in the Vanderbilt/Cent
But not everyone thinks the operation is necessary — or fair.
Matt Leber, organizer of the Homeless Power Project, says the program is a short-sighted approach that avoids addressing the causes of homelessness.
"Tourists, businesses, homeless advocates have all agreed that a good solution to not having a place to go to the bathroom is to have more public bathrooms," he said. "And the aggressive panhandling is a product of over-developmen
Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said "pleas from the community" fueled his decision to launch the project. Planning started in May and the initiative began in mid-June. Cries for action have grown louder with the proliferation of high-priced condominiums and the influx of affluent residents.
'We had enough'
"We recognized the obnoxious behavior of people who are making lives uncomfortable,"
He said the department "scraped together" money to pay overtime for the officers, who dress as tourists or as business people.
The officers say they aren't targeting all homeless, just the troublemakers.
"People who are homeless for reasons beyond their control deserve every bit of help that society can give to them," Serpas said. "It's one thing for a person to say 'can you give me some change?' and another to berate people because they won't."
The Downtown Nashville Partnership has gotten involved as well, urging people to support the charities that help the homeless rather than giving money to panhandlers. The aggressive ones can scare off tourists and downtown business, they say.
Officers are also focusing on public drunkenness, trespassing and clerks who sell alcohol to already drunken individuals.
Many business owners have signed prosecution waivers that give police the right to arrest trespassers without merchants having to go to court.
James Benton, who lives on the streets of downtown Nashville, said he actually welcomes the new police initiative. He said it makes him feel safer.
"I can stay at the mission, but I like to stay out here," said Benton, 59, from a bench across from the Nashville Public Library. "Sometimes guys on the street get messed up. And it's good that the police are trying to take care of that. It's all good."
Street musician likes it
When he's not on the road, truck driver Neil Love said he's often on Lower Broadway, playing guitar and singing for tips.
"You get an old drunk who comes up while I'm playing for people, one who is just stinking and he just leers over you and the tourists, well, he's running off my business," he said.
Because of that, Love, 42, likes the effort.
"I've noticed the improvement," he said, nodding at his guitar case that invites tips. "As long as they let the musicians keep playing, I'm OK."
