Early this morning, while walking a friend of mine to the Garnett MARTA station, I found the sidewalk resolutely blocked by four or five men, aged from about their late 20s to early 40s. Slicing through the crowd as I usually do, we were then both offered anything from weed to crack by the group. I answered "no," evidently too sternly for their liking, as I was met then by a barrage of loud disapproval and provocative phrases for a good thirty seconds or more. Of course, when I returned home on the other side of the street, I was solicited again, this time as I was talking on the phone, mid-sentence.
Perhaps it's only my perception, but the hustlers on my street seem to be increasing in number and aggressiveness over the past week or two, and I much more rarely see police cruise through than I did three months ago. I can only hope that it's not somehow the result of a recently altered police beat for my neighborhood, but in any case, I've already voiced my concern to the department.
My concern mostly stems from the propensity of drug activity to foster violence.
If this is happening to you in your neighborhood, call 911 on the hustlers who loiter nearby. Give an exact location with landmarks, not only addresses. This cannot be overemphasized; the last time I tried to call police on a group of non-homeless men, who didn't live in my building, squatting outside it, the cop looked in the building across the street from me instead, and left without having accomplished anything.
If you're already sick of calling the police as often as you do, voice your concern at City Council's Public Safety Committee meetings, which are held on some Tuesdays. The next one is 29 November at 3:00 PM, and I'll most likely be there.
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