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I read your blog frequently because I now date someone downtown and have become a downtown regular after work hours. Even though I have worked downtown in the legal system 35 years, I have discovered a whole new scene of restaurants and clubs and all the stores at the south end.<\/p>\n

I have lived all my life in MidTown Memphis, but I am convinced that the action has continued to move west as downtown has grown and flourished. I believe that downtown is now safer than MidTown. The burglaries and robberies in my neighborhood have now turned to home invasions. At least, I have gated parking downtown and in the condo, two sets of locked doors to negotiate.<\/p>\n

I am seriously considering selling my house and moving downtown, but the only deterrent is, as you so frequently comment on, the many panhandlers. I am very used to this since I have worked downtown all my life, and I am not a weeny about it. I have little fear of them, except I like to keep my distance since one of them spit on me years ago and one of them came at me in a threatening way.<\/p>\n

My beef is, why should I invest a substantial amount of money in a home in an invigorating and culturally-stimulating environment of my choosing, with wonderfully diverse neighbors, only to be harassed every time I leave my door on foot or bicycle? I am especially irritated when this happens at night because panhanding is against the law after the sun goes down. And when I refuse the panhandlers’ plea for money and they unleash a vulgar verbal assault on me, which is also illegal, it just does something to my usually upbeat mood. And this happens frequently.<\/p>\n

I have a sense, as a downtown “outsider”, that this very vital issue is not being addressed by the powers that be, especially our City government. What are the various downtown groups, who have so much at stake downtown, doing to stop this harassment? In an nutshell, what is the most effective group working on this and what are they doing? I have a great respect for civil rights, but what are other large cities doing to handle this problem, and possibly help some of these folks find a better way to live? And yes, I know most of them don’t want any help and are living the way they choose, and that is a conundrum.<\/p>\n

Our police department seems unwilling to enforce the noise ordinance and allows cruisers to blare loud music from their vehicles, disturbing diners in the restaurants along Second Street near the Peabody. I see patrol cars routinely parked for long periods of time in parking lots downtown. Ae they taking a break, filling out paper work, doing surveillance? They never seem to be around when I am getting the “bum’s rush.”<\/p>\n

My friend made one simple request of a downtown landlord to remove the squatters from his land near G.E. Patterson and Navy Park, and overnight it seems the “homeless city” was cleared out. Is this all it takes? Why does it seem no one else is working on this problem? Of course, it remains to be seen if the squatters will stay away. And is this only relocating them somewhere else downtown?<\/p>\n

In my opinion, there needs to be a master plan to address the homeless and panhandlers, which are two separate problems, and a solution that will be lasting. Where are all the condo developers who are investing millions, the corporate leaders whose employees are harassed on the downtown streets, the restaurant owners whose patrons are approached for a handout nearly every time they enter a restaurant, the hotel owners who are trying to attract tourists? Why don’t they develop a truly big-time task force to deal with this problem once and for all, along with the auto “cruisers” that sometimes clog up the downtown streets?<\/p>\n

Thank you for giving me space in your blog to express my opinion, and I hope this will spark some action to make downtown a more feasible housing and entertainment alternative to us in the eastern regions of the city. Thank you!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"