Atlanta Rule Aims to Curb Begging

Atlanta, listed in a recent survey as the nation's fifth meanest city toward the homeless, is considering whether to ratchet things up a notch.

A proposal before the City Council would ban panhandling in downtown Atlanta.

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Many business owners say beggars are a nuisance to people who live, work or visit downtown -- especially those panhandlers who shout profanities at people who refuse to give them money.

"If we don't allow our citizens or guests to feel as comfortable as we've allowed our homeless to feel, then I feel we've done a disservice to our community at large," said City Councilman H. Lamar Willis, who proposed the ordinance.

"It's something we have to do right now if we want to save downtown," he said.

Last week, in a report issued by the National Coalition for the Homeless, Atlanta trailed only Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles among the 147 communities considered for their degrees of hospitality -- or lack of it -- toward the homeless.

Michael Stoops, a spokesman for the organization, said anti-panhandling ordinances just shift the practice to other places not covered by the restrictions, instead of addressing the circumstances that lead to begging.

"It hasn't worked anywhere as far as I can tell," Stoops said.

The Atlanta ordinance, up for discussion Tuesday night at the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, would prohibit solicitation of money in all of the city's downtown and within 15 feet of ATMs, banks, transit stations and Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport.

Christopher Yearian, who works at Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Atlanta, said there is plenty of support for the measure.

"What we don't see and we really want is the crowd from the suburbs, and that's dropped off a lot," he said.

And yet, many homeless people said they have been spurned by the city.

"Atlanta is a very inhumane city," said Jimmy Poe, while sitting on a bench at Woodruff Park, which is where many of the city's homelss congregate. He said he has been homeless for two months after losing his construction job. "They won't help us legitimately."

Julia Stephens said she has already been arrested for panhandling.

"We were out here and we needed some money to eat," she said.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Lynn Harasin contributed to this report.