In this post I’d like to introduce you to some of Downtown’s most visible street people, who are out every day hustling. These people illustrate the need for the ordinances restricting panhandling and single beer sales.
You’ll frequently see “Calvin” on the streets around Beale and the FedExForum. He’ll usually station himself near a metered parking space that is open. Sometimes he’ll wear an orange vest, and when a car approaches he’ll wave a towel in the direction of the space. You may think Calvin is a parking attendant. He’s not. He’s a panhandler with a long arrest history for parking scams and drug and drug paraphernalia charges. The Downtown safety patrol once confiscated a fake parking credential he was using. Under the new panhandling ordinance, panhandling at parking meters would be illegal.
“Billy” has been Downtown causing trouble for years. I decided to nickname him Billy because he has a beard like a billy goat. He likes to hang out in Court Square, or in front of Walgreens or Jack’s Food Store on Main. He’ll approach people with a handshake, asking for money to get something to eat. Once he collects enough, he’ll go buy a beer at the convenience store. He repeats this cycle all day. After several beers, he gets drunk, loud and abusive, especially toward women. A couple of years ago, two sweet English tourists in their early 20s were trying to take a photo of the Main Street Mall, and Billy repeatedly approached them and suggested they do lewd things to an area of his anatomy. I called the police on him and ushered our guests to safety inside Walgreens. I wonder how many tourists have left with a bad impression of Downtown Memphis over the years because of Billy.
“Dallas” likes to do the “tour guide” gimmick. He’ll get copies of the Downtown Merchant Guide and Memphis Flyer (free publications) out of distribution boxes. Then he and another panhandler will attempt to sell them to tourists. I have seen him walk alongside tourists for blocks at a time. Dallas is about 6’3″ and is pretty physically intimidating – I imagine plenty of people have given him money simply because they felt threatened. Walking alongside people as you panhandle them would be banned under the new ordinance.
“Sharp Dressed Bum”, so named because he’s often seen in neatly-pressed club attire, is another panhandler who likes to do the tour guide gimmick. He’ll work the area around the Peabody, the Rendezvous, and Beale, chatting up tourists, then asking them for money. Refusals are usually met with threatening gestures, as though SDB is going to come at you, as well as tirades like, “Well, f*** you then, you f***ing bitch! I don’t need your g****mn money anyway! F*** you! You hear me? F*** you!”
“Beetle” is a master of the art of hanging out. He loves to panhandle in Court Square, then he’ll use the money to go buy beer at a store on the Main Street Mall. Once he starts drinking, he gets in arguments and fights with the other street people. For a while, he had a girlfriend, also a panhandler, whom he got pregnant. They panhandled with the baby (in 45 degree weather) after it was born. Then she got pregnant again, by another man, and in a drunken rage he beat her up. He spent 6 months in jail on an assault conviction, but he’s back on the street now, hanging out in Court Square, panhandling guests on the Sleep Inn patio, sipping on a tallboy of beer.
These are the kinds of troublemakers targeted by the proposed panhandling and single-beer sales ordinances. Take away their ability to panhandle, and suddenly it won’t be profitable for them to hang out Downtown all day. Take away their quarts and 40s, and you’ve taken away the fuel that leads to the arguing, the lewd comments, the fighting. If they want to continue to panhandle, fine – they will still have the option to do it, but it will be passive panhandling in spaces designated by the city, and their intimidating abusive behavior will not be permitted.
“Scratchy” is a homeless man who lives in an alley near Bardog Tavern. Scratchy never bothers anyone. He’ll walk around all day, scratching his beard. If you approach him with an offering of leftover pizza or a cigarette or a Coke, he’ll meekly say “thank you” and take it and walk away. The new ordinances will not affect Scratchy in any way, because he never asks for anything and never goes into stores to buy beer. The proposed ordinances are not aimed at the homeless. Believe me, if we thought any law was being passed that would hurt Scratchy, Downtowners would rise up against it in large numbers.
Please don’t get the idea, after reading all the troublemaker stories above, that Downtown is unsafe. That is not true. I have lived down here 8 years and feel completely safe, and statistics indicate 38103 is the safest zip code in the city. Rather, it’s a handful of individuals such as these who create the perception that Downtown is unsafe. It’s costing the area millions in revenue from people who have a bad experience and decide never to come back. As a resident, it’s costing me potential friends I never get to make, because people who consider moving Downtown have a bad experience and decide to remain out east. I want my neighborhood to finally live up to its potential, and the ordinances are an important step in that direction.
Please consider coming to the rally at the Center City Commission (114 N. Main, at Adams) tomorrow at 5:30 PM to show your support for the proposed ordinances. More information on the ordinances and how to support them here.
