Community Corner

Should panhandlers be banned from downtown Athens?

The Commission's Legislative Review Committee studies the issue of handouts.

We've all seen people sitting against a building downtown with a box beside them containing a few dollars dropped by passersby. Maybe we've even given money to some of these folks.

Others in our community, residents and visitors alike, have been confronted by people demanding money from them. For some, it's off-putting. For others, it's frightening.

Officials with the say that merchants downtown report getting regular complaints from customers about . People who are going to an ATM or getting a parking meter ticket are especially uncomfortable. The Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau worries about the effect panhandlers have on visitors.

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So the ACC Commission's Legislative Review Committee is trying to figure out what to do aboutΒ  downtown panhandling. Should they strengthen the current ordinance, which now bans only "aggressie" panhandling in which someone "accosts" another person? Will they risk violating someone's Constitutional right to free speech?

Have you ever been approached by a panhandler in downtown, or anywherre else in town? What did you do?

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Do you think we should ban panhandlers from downtown? Or what?

Please tell us in the comments.


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