Five Points and Loitering

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by JPD

It's weird how people assume you meant homeless and mentally ill people. Loiterers come in many forms. How is it possible that people doesn't know this?

Thank you for your post. I was/am really surprised to see the assumptions and I have to wonder if I was not precise enough. Maybe I should have been more specific in my title. I don't know...I thought I made it quite clear who I am addressing.

[seussie]

never had a problem in five points that doesn't extend to any other place where there's sexist or racist folk.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by ekman243

So does she move with a purpose and become the predator when her supervisor (Male or female in Atlanta) suggest girl you are looking sexy, you want a promotion or when the her college professor says hmmmm or when that attractive person(male and Female in atlanta) who seemingly has it altogether says you want some, but I thought we had a connection or do you only tell her to be a predator in the five points area

Well just to add to this, when I said what I said about older white men, I usually see it in bars. Still unacceptable for anyone to touch anybody inappropriately. The person(s) who are sexually assaulted (hands touching butt without permission for instance) give off a more confident persona but when you have someone who feels as if they have so much power that they can get away with touching people inappropriately, it does not matter how much the affected are confident/move with a purpose.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

That's not bad advice. But it's ridiculous to require a predator/prey mindset to use the nexus of transit in the city. A place surrounded by city, county, state and local government offices. Law enforcement most certainly tolerates vagrant type behavior in this area and that needs to stop.

Yes!!!

Everyone...if you reply to something I said, please don't think I am ignoring you. I have to go to work any may not be able to respond by tonight. I appreciate everyone's posts. I like to learn new perspectives. I shall assimilate your thoughts into my collective.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by ATLfromJAX

While I haven't been to a lot of big city downtown areas, I did visit a client in downtown Seattle and was SHOCKED at the number of homeless walking around.

My client was a tech company with an office near the Pioneer Square area of downtown Seattle.

There was a park nearby and a large number homeless were camped out and walking around throughout downtown. It was the closest thing I've seen to downtown Atlanta homeless I've ever seen.

The biggest difference from Atlanta is that the people in Seattle didn't seem concerned or weren't scared of homeless. The shops and sidewalks were full of people.

My only reasonable conclusion (but maybe not the right thing to say) is that race must play a factor. Since the all the homeless in Seattle (that I saw) were white, people may have felt less threatened.

In Atlanta, the homeless are mostly black, which could be the reason everyone is trying to "trying to hurry up and leave the five points area"....

Maaayyybeeee!

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by oldschoolChevy

You lived in Chicago but you’ve never seen anything like Five Points before? That interesting, I’m guessing you never made it to the Red Line Wilson El stop in Uptown? Or the Green Line El station on 63rd and King? It looks exactly like Five Points. And those are just the ones I’m familiar with that have similar issues, I’m sire there are more.

And I rode MARTA daily from 7th grade to 12th, stopped at Five Points everyday and never had any issues, and being there daily I could see what people were doing. Most of the people you see are not loitering, they’re not not doing anything illegal, they’re simply wating for their train/bus. Just because they don’t look like the folks you’re used to being around doesn’t mean they’re up to no good. Good luck getting over your fears as Five Points is the main transfer point for people who use MARTA, there is nothing that gentrification will do that will change folks who you deem to be “rough looking” from being down there. You would literally have to move Five Points somewhere else and that’s not going to happen.

I find it hilarious that some of y’all claim to be so street smart and savvy from places like Chicago or NY, but yet you clutch your pearls when someone who isn’t wearing Vineyard Vines walks past you on the sidewalk.

I never said I have never seen anything like Five Points before in NYC & Chicago, the issue is Five Points is in the middle of the Central Business district and is main terminal for the whole system. In every major metro area you have sketchy points, the issue is the amount of homeless who hang around. You also picked two of the worst stops on the entire El system especially the green line 63 stop, what would be my reason for going there it's a neighborhood stop, I didn't live anywhere near there?

Newark Penn was very similar to Five Points five years ago but has recently became a lot better because of the recent efforts by police the made one is you cannot sit down or loiter without a valid transit ticket. It made a lot of people mad but it's an effort by Newark to start cleaning up their downtown.

[bellhead]

Was in both Seattle & San Fransisco this summer, outside of the smell mostly in San Fransisco never felt unsafe & enjoyed both cities a lot. Most of the homeless in both cities are drug related, mainly because drugs cost money and the rent in both cities is very high. The majority of the Five Points homeless looked or were exhibiting behaviors of the mentally ill which is dangerous situation as you don't know how they will react at anytime.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

That's not bad advice. But it's ridiculous to require a predator/prey mindset to use the nexus of transit in the city. A place surrounded by city, county, state and local government offices. Law enforcement most certainly tolerates vagrant type behavior in this area and that needs to stop.

Telling folks they have to go into predator mode to ride transit is a bit of burden in my opinion. I just get on the train or the bus and am usually thinking about where I've been or where I'm going or something I'm supposed to do. I can't focus on looking and acting like a predator.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Telling folks they have to go into predator mode to ride transit is a bit of burden in my opinion. I just get on the train or the bus and am usually thinking about where I've been or where I'm going or something I'm supposed to do. I can't focus on looking and acting like a predator.

I'm not a good enough actor to even pretend to be a predator, arjay! Maybe a zillion years ago when I was a youngun that might've worked so-so.

[oldschoolChevy]

Originally Posted by bellhead

I never said I have never seen anything like Five Points before in NYC & Chicago, the issue is Five Points is in the middle of the Central Business district and is main terminal for the whole system. In every major metro area you have sketchy points, the issue is the amount of homeless who hang around. You also picked two of the worst stops on the entire El system especially the green line 63 stop, what would be my reason for going there it's a neighborhood stop, I didn't live anywhere near there?

Newark Penn was very similar to Five Points five years ago but has recently became a lot better because of the recent efforts by police the made one is you cannot sit down or loiter without a valid transit ticket. It made a lot of people mad but it's an effort by Newark to start cleaning up their downtown.

CBD? There are plenty of sketchy/crazy/homeless people milling around in the Loop, and yeah 63rd/King El is horrible, but the Wilson El is no where near the worst transit stop in Chicago. Not even close bro, try again on that one. I threw Wilson in there because it’s similar to Five Points with the amount of homeless people/druggies that are in the area, but it’s frickin Uptown dude, the area overall is a denser version of West Midtown with a little bit of Little 5 thrown in, how did you live in Chicago and never go to Uptown? You can flex for these folks on here who don’t know the Chi, but putting Uptown in the same boat as the fringe blocks of Englewood is a joke.

And you’re from Savannah right? Didn’t y’all just have a big ass shootout in the middle of the historic district where folks where shot on the street and run over by cars in broad day light not even 2 years ago? If I recall correctly 4 or 5 folks got shot, correct me if I’m wrong. And isn’t your main Greyhound station right across the street from some projects? Yamacraw I believe. So you miss me with the Five Points rant. Not going to act like it’s all peaches and cream down there, but at the same time I’m not going to let you and others act like it’s the worst thing on the face of the earth and unique to just Atlanta either.