By Michael H. McLendon
City Hall is leaving citizens and business owners on their own to deal with the problems created by the increasing homeless and panhandler population while hiring a private security firm to protect ACC employees at City Hall due to similar problems. The people who run City Hall are concerned about their own personal safety while creating the illusion of a safe Athens. This situation exists because City Hall leaders have been timid and weak in dealing with the problem. Aside from the substantive issues here, these optics are not good.
The action by City Hall to use private security beginning in December 2023 to enhance safety and security for employees and visitors is not the issue. The City Manager would be irresponsible if he failed to act this past December following incidents that occurred at City Hall. Even the Athens Downtown Development Authority uses private security for its parking decks. One might argue this is an inherent ACC Police Department (PD) task, but that is another discussion for another day.
The issue is the double standard at work in City Hall. One standard applies to government employees and a different one applies to regular citizens. The City Hall standard means government employees deserve to be shielded as a priority to mitigate safety and security risks. The citizen standard means citizens must accept City Hall’s policy of unlimited tolerance for the homeless and panhandler problem. This means citizens and business owners are on their own when it comes to providing for their increased safety and security.
Hiring private security for City Hall signifies ACC has set a zero-tolerance policy for the behavior of the homeless and panhandlers in and around City Hall and its campus. So, why are ACC employees more important than the rest of us? Don’t the rest of us have a right to feel as safe and secure as government employees? Citizens and business owners deserve a public answer to that question.
For more than a year citizens and business owners have demanded City Hall take action to eliminate the myriad of safety, security, and health problems created by some in the growing homeless and panhandler population. Their pleas to City Hall resulted in the nodding of heads followed by a big yawn of indifference.
There is good reason for anxiety about the safety and security situation due to the growing homeless and panhandler population. Calls to the ACC PD about these problems increased from about 1900 in 2019 to about 4200 in 2022. Data for 2023 is not yet available, but City Hall employees have been uneasy because the problem arrived on their door- step finally warranting action in 2023 so it is clear this problem still persists.
Citizens have a question City Hall must answer: Why do you deem yourselves more important than the rest of us?
(Part 2 coming soon)
Michael H. McLendon resides in Athens-Clarke County Commission District 7.