Bye bye bums! Downtown safety patrol extended for another 12 months

Just received a text from Mikey the Camera Nazi, who is at the Center City Commission attending their monthly board meeting. He told me that they have voted to extend the Downtown safety patrol for another 12 months.

The patrol, which started April 1, was brought on mainly to target aggressive panhandling in the Downtown core, which had really gotten out of hand. They have done a FANTASTIC job. I’d estimate panhandling has been reduced down here by 85-90%. If I’m out for a few hours, these days I see a couple or three panhandlers on the streets, where I used to see 15 or 20 in a similar time frame. They have a number you can call if you witness or experience aggressive panhandling (901-281-9146), and they’ll be there on their bikes in minutes. A lot is screwed up in Memphis – just read the papers – but this is a rarity, a program that is truly effective.

THANK YOU to the CCC for voting to extend the program, THANK YOU to CDA the security company that has provided these outstanding officers, and most of all MUCH THANKS to the officers themselves. Keep up the good work, and I’m thrilled to have you around for at least another year.

Sitting here at the Saucer laptopping. No tube tops out yet but it’s early in the day. Fire Sale is Old Scratch. Not one of my favorites, but I bought one because there are AutoZone people in here, and I wanted to make the point that, unlike them, I work for a company that doesn’t have a corncob up its ass about employees having a beer on their lunch break. That said, I’m only having one, because I’ll need my mental faculties this afternoon. There will be plenty more beer drinking tonight.

I’ve been e-mailed more BBQ Fest rumors and comments, and will post them later today or tomorrow. Right now, back to the office for an exciting afternoon of data extraction and transformation.