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Pandhandling rises downtown.

gman430

By gman430
in Greenville

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gman430 Megalopolis

gman430

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According to this article in the Greenville News, panhandling is rising downtown especially near the bus station: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20...10323/1001/NEWS Isn't there a law against begging in the city? :dontknow: I don't like the fact that cities such as Charlotte and Columbia are sending their homeless people here either. If your city has a homeless problem, fix it. Don't send them here. I have noticed that all of the homeless people downtown pretty much originate from the bus station. I wish the city would move it somewhere else like the Carolina First Center to erase this problem downtown. What are your thoughts on this situation?

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btoy Town

btoy

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That's an unsubstantiated claim. I wouldn't read much into that unless its proven. I don't like that they are presenting information like that as fact when the only source is an anonymous homeless person.

I think that homeless people are just a part of a city, particularly when they are in a fast growing economic center of a region, like Greenville is. Its naive to think that a city in this situation won't have to deal with this problem. That article covered its bases pretty well to explain the problem.

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Travo Unincorporated Area

Travo

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Being in or near the Park all day I can certianly speak to this problem. We have several "regulars" that hang out in the park, these guys know the rules and don't panhandle or ask for anything from anyone. However I have noticed recently that there are a lot more homeless people "passing through" and needing "change for the bus". Panhandling may be on the rise, but I honestly thing most of them are just passing through and looking to fund thier trips. The homeless guys that call Falls Park home for most of the day have been the same 4-5 people since I started working there over a year ago.

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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I'm beginning to think that Southeastern cities are just recycling their homeless populations. I remember a thread on the Atlanta subforum that claimed that homeless folks were being bussed there from some other city. A couple of months ago, I was on a photoshoot in uptown Charlotte when a homeless man and woman approached me asking about different parts of town. They came from the direction of the Greyhound bus station, so I assumed that some other city put them on the bus to Charlotte.

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Spartan Gigalopolis

Spartan

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You can't assume that though. How can you be so sure they weren't just walking around and happened to be coming from that area? Depending on the day, there is some sort of food distribution on Poplar & 4th for the homeless, so they could have gone there and walked up to Trade and back to Tryon. To that end how can you be so sure they didn't buy their own ticket to get a new start on life or something to that effect?

I think many cities have this notion that they are so great that homeless people and the "unclean" part of society cant possibly be there, so they must be coming from somewhere else. I'm not just talking about Greenville here. Its true in here Charlotte, Columbia, Spartanburg, Asheville and probably any other new-growth Southern city too. People want their downtown to be a glorified shopping mall experience sometimes. They want it to be "suburban" like the new "lifestyle center" and "town center" type of developments. Obviously here on UP we understand that downtowns take more than that, but this is my perception on what the average joe thinks.

When you have a true urban center you will have homeless people, poor people, and other undesirable populations. The difference is that people just deal with it like they do in larger cities. Charleston, IMO, is the best example nearby (but pick your large urban core). They have a homeless population and a lot of poor people too. But in that city its part of life downtown and you just deal with it. If you don't like it you don't have to go downtown. Enjoy your homeless-free suburban strip malls, fast food, big box chain stores, and sterile homogeneity. You can't have it all, so which do you prefer?

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GvilleSC Megalopolis

GvilleSC

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It's not really homeless people in general who are the problem, it's the panhandlers that make people uncomfortable.

I've been at the main Post Office on Washington St when a man was asking for money. A lady behind me pointed out the large Rescue Mission across the street as a source for food. At that point he raised his voice and said things I couldn't begin to understand. It's those people who cause the problems and threaten the sense of safety that people feel.

I think the difference should be qualified. I would say that people who beg for food outside of a soup kitchen are indeed a problem.

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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You can't assume that though. How can you be so sure they weren't just walking around and happened to be coming from that area? Depending on the day, there is some sort of food distribution on Poplar & 4th for the homeless, so they could have gone there and walked up to Trade and back to Tryon. To that end how can you be so sure they didn't buy their own ticket to get a new start on life or something to that effect?
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breed Hamlet

breed

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I don't like the fact that cities such as Charlotte and Columbia are sending their homeless people here either. If your city has a homeless problem, fix it. Don't send them here. I have noticed that all of the homeless people downtown pretty much originate from the bus station. I wish the city would move it somewhere else like the Carolina First Center to erase this problem downtown.
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RestedTraveler Metropolis

RestedTraveler

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Most people who have been sent to Greenville from somewhere else would likely admit to it. Perhaps the City of Greenville needs to establish some specific processes for this situation and put a "liason officer" at the bus station to greet folks as they get off of the buses (specifically those who claim to have been sent here from another city) and then "process" them accordingly?

Edit: In re-reading this, what I'm saying here sounds *AWFUL* but I really mean it in the best possible light.

In regards to moving the bus stop out of downtown. Not a smart move. What would it say about a city that moves one of its biggest transit properties out of their downtown? That really is the opposite of the direction transit should be heading. If anything, a new structure that is a focal point of downtown would be much more preferable.
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vicupstate Metropolitan Area

vicupstate

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If Columbia is sending any here, then they have hundreds of busloads still to go. Hope I don't offend just reporting what I saw.........but guys, our problem downtown in GV is small in comparison to what I saw today. My partner and I were on our way back from Hilton Head. We took US 321 from HH to Columbia (some interesting small towns by the way) and just went ahead and took 321 into downtown Columbia to check out their progress with Main Street. We had our dog, so we decided to go by Finlay Park....we thought it would be a good break for her (we had out pooper scooper) and it was an absolutely beautiful day. When we got near the park, we ended up locking our doors and driving on through. I have never seen so many homeless in one place.....many were laying out in the open grass with garbage bags of collected items (this was off Taylor Street I believe). We turned and went up a hill by the park, with some fun old and new homes (cute homes :thumbsup: ). At the top of the hill, top of the park, there was a parking lot and what looked to be restrooms near the entrance to the park. There must have easily been 40 or so homeless hanging out. Some made crude gestures at us. They were just roaming. Scary. We headed to Assembly and then to 126 and then out of town. Stopped at the rest area up I-26 for our dog.

Be thankful our city park doesn't have this issue. I hope for the welfare of the many homeless and the citizens of Columbia that something is done to seriously address this issue.

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