City of Atlanta vagrants (Franklin: 2015, apartment, appliances)

[markm]

I am remodeling an old house in Atlanta. Any ideas on how to discourage, get rid of vagrants, urban outdoorsmen from drinking, sleeping on property? House is vacant and boarded up but they flop there in shed (to be removed) or under back porch stoop at night.

[john1963]

set up an indoor stereo that plays country music 24/7 and broadcast it outdoors??? I have heard of that to discourage loitering.

It would work but might get them mad and don't want your house vandalized.

[Figment 07]

Remove the shed as soon as possible (before they burn it), put a solid foundation under the back porch (now), install vandal-proof motion detector lights, drive by often and report trespassers to the police -- every time.

Also, you might contact the Metro Atlanta Task Force For The Homeless (http://www.volunteersolutions.org/uwatl/org/20153326.html - broken link)or other advocates (every time) and inform them where they can pick up some of their clients.

[tdatl]

put a large fence around the place temporarily along with a vicious dog. Not sure how much a fence would cost, but it may prove to be a cost-effective option.

i know several people who have done this, & they all have horror stories. They say never have work materials delivered until the time they are needed & will be completely used. Leave them overnight and they'll be gone. A girl I dated had plants stolen right after she planted them. Also, any copper piping or electrical will be gone if you don't guard the place. A work buddy just had this happen -- the workmen called him one day & said they couldn't get power. They found someone had gone under the crawl space & yanked out every bit of copper wiring & plumbing they could reach. There was an article in next day's AJC (this was <1 mos. ago) talking about the problems with copper theft due to record-high prices.

Appliances will be gone if they're able to get them out the door. He had someone try to take his. Put double-lock deadbolts on all doors. It's against building codes for when a resident moves in due to fire fears, but it's mandatory while you're rehabbing. Yes, someone can remove the door, but it's more of a hassle and just may be enough. You can't get appliances thru a window.

And the buddy who just had his copper stolen said the guy who got him into rehabbing carries a gun, because he found Rottweillers once in one of his rehab houses. Pit bulls & Rotts are popular in bad parts of town, but if an apartment won't allow them, sometimes the owners will put them in vacant houses.

be careful. All of these stories are from south of I-20 in areas that are just now undergoing gentrification and still have much ghetto.

[atlantagreg30127]

Set about 120 Rat Traps and slide them under the porch. Put some industrial adhesive around other areas where people are crawling under or in. Leave out some brownies filled with Ex-Lax. A few larger bear cage traps might work as well.

I have no tolerance for bums. People who are truly homeless and in need of assistance have a lot of resources in Atlanta all the way from housing to food to job placement assistance - they are not bums. But Atlanta does have a huge problem with "real" bums everywhere, and whenever the city tries to clean it up the advocates come in with the poney-tailed lawyers to raise hell, making sure the media have cameras trained on them during the protests. The city will back down not wanting bad press.

One city in the south {nameless} has one solution. When the police chief or his staff finds a panhandler, they put him in a car and drive him about 120 miles outside of the city, then dump him on the side of the highway. They are told the next trip will be on a boat and they'll go in the water. Strangely, this works VERY well and it's rare to see the same bum twice in that town (of course, they're all probably coming to Atlanta after that experience, too). So if you don't mind your car getting dirtied up, maybe you can just drive them over to Birmingham and drop them off.

Wish there was a real solution besides smartness, but honestly, calling the cops and putting up barriers is the ONLY thing you can really do around here.

[bornandraised atl]

Urban Outdoorsman - haha, I think they should still be called 'Bums', but I love urban outdoorsman...

[luckysnap]

You are mistaking these people for the Atlanta city council.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Leave out some brownies filled with Ex-Lax.

Worst idea ever.

Where do you think the bums will do their business when the ex-lax kicks in?

[Georgia]

Get Shirley Franklins address, print cards with directions, place something like Have Bar-b-Que with the Mayor and send them on their way.

The Queen seems to love and support this activity as she has worked with extreme dedication to make sure panhandling and vagrants were allowed to harass individuals and tourist alike.