  Sec106 Member Username: Sec106 Post Number: 4 Registered: 03-2007 |
Has anyone else noticed that there seems to have been a huge influx of panhandlers around Comerica. It is like running a gauntlet to get in and out of the games. Some of them are even hassling people. I'd swear they are bussing them in from Pontiac or somewhere. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1299 Registered: 07-2004 |
Have anybody else notice that this oasis of prosperity is surrounded by some of the poorest urban real estate in the country? With that in mind, I'd wonder why there aren't MORE panhandlers in the area. Also, it might have something to do with all the construction disrupting Greektown, where beggars usually ply their trade. | ||
Tetsua Member Username: Tetsua Post Number: 1318 Registered: 01-2004 |
I thought it was officially against the law to panhandle now. There hasn't been any change in the amount of beggars. On that note, it's officially illegal to talk on a phone while driving, yet I see even the COPS doing it. | ||
Higgs1634 Member Username: Higgs1634 Post Number: 157 Registered: 10-2005 |
well, they are going to go where there are large groups of people. Right now, the only game in town is the Tigers. While bums outside stadiums, concerts..etc is pretty normal for any large city, from my experience last night (and other experiences here and elsewhere), Detroit bums are the most aggressive. last night leaving that debacle of a Tigers game, this one bum followed me for at least a block... "i know you got change!, I hear it jangling!" ...."gimme some money!" Didn't really bother me, but I can see that being a bit off putting. | ||
Dave70 Member Username: Dave70 Post Number: 14 Registered: 08-2007 |
Yeah, the aggressive ones piss me off. You know they're just husslin' for drug or alcohol money. I usually give something up to the peaceful folk though. ;) | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 267 Registered: 02-2007 |
Off-putting is right. There are a lot of ways to spend leisure time, and I'll wager that aggressive pan-handling (not to mention to heavy use of alleys as latrines) has caused more than a few -suburbanites and Detroiters- to say: the hell with it, let's just go to the multiplex to see a show/eat on Northwestern instead of being pestered by unpleasant people. The bums are like those annoying ticks and squeaks that have chased buyers from Detroit brands and into Hondas. | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 144 Registered: 08-2007 |
I pay up for creativity. In the late 90's, a man in DC/Georgetown approached me with an "I'm tryin' to get on the Internet"; I had to smile at that one. Here someone's always got the same story about a car or a bus, what imagination! | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1303 Registered: 07-2004 |
I'm with you, Oakmangirl. I need a story. A good one. Because, if everybody really needed that bus fare for a trip to Pontiac, Detroit wouldn't have a homeless problem. Pontiac would. | ||
Rogerjab Member Username: Rogerjab Post Number: 58 Registered: 06-2005 |
Really, a influx of panhandlers? I can't believe it George Bush says the economy is just humming now, I think I can even hear it out my window. Seriously, I've been walking around the stadium for a couple years now when they're in town, pretty much the same old faces. Some are even famous like that "Eat em Tigers, Eat em up" guy. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 268 Registered: 02-2007 |
Rog, you should check out the thread on non-Detroit topics and read about how mean-old George Bush made a college student get pregnant. The reality for most of the bums is that they are unemployable due to mental illness and addiction-related issues. The only thing that they'll work hard at is being a pain in the ass to other pedestrians. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1305 Registered: 07-2004 |
Who needs social programs when you can simply write off a large segment of society. Thanks, Craig! | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 269 Registered: 02-2007 |
DN - I think that you missed my point: a healthy economy offers opportunity for those able to exploit the "boom." The panhandlers have a hard time remembering that I've ignored them the last 1000 times that they've "worked" me, let alone muster what it takes to find and keep work. Jesus himself could become President and people like the little scruff on Jefferson by the Spirit of Detroit will still be on his corner, rain or shine. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1306 Registered: 07-2004 |
Oh, I see. You weren't writing them off. You were just saying that they contribute nothing and will never find a job because they're useless. We may now officially cancel all courses in sociology. | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 146 Registered: 08-2007 |
Actually, Craig, some do work to bring a little happiness to someone's day...used to have a guy outside my home play the theme to Sesame Street on his tuba and greet me cheerfully. I never sensed he expected to make enough to cover his health needs, but imagine what we call a "sane" person with health coverage spreading good cheer as she cuts me off in her Escalade. I'm tired of the damn stereotyping of the homeless; every person is unique and deserves a little compassion (except Thejesus who called me an idiot; I'm still smarting). | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 270 Registered: 02-2007 |
If you guys want me to mention a few corners where you can find plenty of hoboes to work on... ...I'm sure that they're right there where I left them. A street musician is far different from another with an open palm. | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 147 Registered: 08-2007 |
Craig, he was no musician...let me tell you. Flat as hell, and he only knew one tune. He was a creative vagrant, hobo, tramp, whatever. You need to see "My Man Godfrey". | ||
Iddude313 Member Username: Iddude313 Post Number: 106 Registered: 07-2005 |
Whenever a bum asks me for something I always say "No thanks, I already have some" and walk away. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1308 Registered: 07-2004 |
I love William Powell. He was never better than in "My Man Godfrey." Oakmangirl: Where you been all my life? | ||
Perfectgentleman Member Username: Perfectgentleman Post Number: 2007 Registered: 03-2006 |
Your money would be better spent on charities that help street people. To give them money directly enables them to buy drugs or booze and encourages them to stay in the area and bother more people. Many larger cities are advising residents to ignore them. http://www.cleveland.com/polit ics/plaindealer/index.ssf?/bas e/opinion/1187427913238390.xml &coll=2 | ||
Rogerjab Member Username: Rogerjab Post Number: 59 Registered: 06-2005 |
Some of you here are truly unbelievable. Maybe they should also pull themselves up by their bootstraps too, yea the economies great Craig, now tell me who's deranged? Do some of you think it's a fun thing to do, panhandling that is. Some of these folk are truly just hard up, and no more crazy than that lawyer that ran over the pedestrians today. Don't give if you don't want to, but for God sake see if you can find it within your heart to approach being a human being, and no I don't feel bad for your rich suburban azz that you have to be bothered, poor things just politely say I don't have anything. | ||
Margaret Member Username: Margaret Post Number: 68 Registered: 06-2007 |
I used to give homeless people food...a sandwich, a banana, an apple, that kind of thing. sometimes if I knew I was going to an area with lots of homeless people, I'd bring a bunch of good food, that way if they're truly hungry they would benefit. just an idea... hey, Oakmangirl for Mayor!!!! | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 148 Registered: 08-2007 |
Margaret, I was simply hoping to be Detroitnerd's sidekick! I've shared food before, and it's been welcome. Mostly, I find that sometimes people just want to tell you their story or merely be acknowledged as human. I used to work around a lot of homeless people who sought shelter in a public building; many were there trying to improve their lives or themselves, and yes, a few were plain obnoxious. Can't we say the same for just about anyone? | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 4013 Registered: 10-2003 |
Now there's a good idea! And if they are not hungry they can sell the apple or sandwich to buy some booze! No seriously, I do the apple thing too. | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 469 Registered: 05-2006 |
There is one guy that I keep seeing all the time. He is a short white guy with a reddish-brown beard. I see him at Eastern Market, on Jefferson, River Walk. One day I saw him at Eastern Market in the morning and River Walk that same night. I thought, well at least he is ambitious. That's a hell of a long work day! I've seen him on Jefferson as I make the Michigan left to go to the tunnel, hustling a couple of older ladies. I was tempted to yell out the window not to give him anything. He's every where. It's kind of creepy because now when he sees me he looks the other way. Pretty sure he's capable of a regular job. | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 1032 Registered: 11-2003 |
Butterfly nets. | ||
Dustin89 Member Username: Dustin89 Post Number: 120 Registered: 07-2006 |
I haven't been panhandled to much, but then again I don't go to Tigers or Lions games. One time I was w/ my cousin and I took him to the Tubby's @ Washington and Lafayette. I went to get something from my car, and when I came back I saw that a homeless guy with a large plastic trash bag had come in the restaurant and was aggressively panhandling my cousin, who ended up giving him several dollars in quarters. That seemed to me like crossing a line, panhandling to someone while they're eating inside a restaurant. Downtown Pontiac, which I'm at quite a bit, has a lot of panhandlers in a relatively small geographic area. They seem to be centered around the library now at Pike and Wide Track. The last time someone hit me up there, he laid this line on me: "I'm just a tramp, not a killer." How comforting. | ||
Deteamster Member Username: Deteamster Post Number: 40 Registered: 07-2007 |
I know who that beard guy is. Some lady downtown gave him some food one time and he threw it on the ground when she walked away. One time he hit me up for money and I offered him my bottle of water, and he declined(so much for offering them something besides money for booze or booze). He rides the bus, too. So he must make money somehow. Sometimes I have a hard time scraping together bus fare. I'm not too romanticized by the bum mystique. It isn't gang bangers who are breaking into cars in Midtown and the CBD for pop bottles and loose change. I've seen it happen. I know all homeless aren't bad people. But a very visible amount of them in Detroit are aggressive and booze and drug hungry. I empathize more with the thousands of Detroiters(and Metro-Detroiters)who are struggling to make an honest living working(usually several jobs), waiting for buses that never come, at the mercy of this shit economy. Meanwhile being harassed for change and having the siding stolen off of their homes by hop heads. | ||
Digitaldom Member Username: Digitaldom Post Number: 656 Registered: 08-2004 |
The Pontiac rescue mission is in that area of the Library I believe.. They are a homeless shelter.. The funniest I story I ever had was.. I always used to walk my co-workers (women) to there cars.. No matter who they were.. If it was dark I would walk them to there car.. I was walking one of the secretary's back to her car at Millendar (I was working at Comerica Tower at the time) and this bum said the funniest thing ever.. Well I maybe black but where all white on the inside.. Mind you my-coworker was black (not that matters.. bc it's doesn't) but she gave me the same look like.. WTF.. I find it funny at the time.. But I know there were ALOT and still are alot of panhandlers on that side of woodward next to Comerica.. I have no idea why they only sit on that side.. When I lead tours of Downtown.. I make sure I walk them on the other side of the street. Ironic enough I never have problems in Hart Plaza or Mariners church they are usually very friendly.. Never any problems there.. no idea why.. But anyways.. The funnier bums are the ones that aren't really bums.. the ones trying to sell tickets to a tigers game.. when the guard is watching and will seize that ticket as soon as you cross the ticket and not let you in.. they can sit in that corner parking lot becuase Illich does not own it.. Most likely that is where they were bugging you.. btw.. Public property.. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1362 Registered: 12-2003 |
I can't believe it ...two people who also like "My Man Godfrey"? Great flick ... I think I know who the short white guy bum with the beard is. He's very aggressive...walks up like he's going to go nose to nose with you. Doesn't let you ignore him. | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 149 Registered: 08-2007 |
Detroitnerd, I think highly of Bill Powell, but Carole Lombard was no slouch and prettier too. Hey, classic film fans...Sullivan's Travels is another great movie centered on experiencing different social castes. |
