Augusta leaders grasp for answers on panhandling, transients

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Augusta Commission held a work session on Wednesday on how best to address panhandling in the city.

City leaders have recently proposed ordinances seeking to curb the practice, but they were warned by legal staff not to follow their initial course because it’s unconstitutional.

The next proposal was to launch a public relations campaign to deter people from giving money to panhandlers. It’s a campaign that would be called “Give Change that Counts.”

The work session Wednesday was scheduled as a discussion of this and other possible approaches.

The meeting got underway at 10 a.m., quickly moving to a discussion of Charleston’s panhandling ordinance.

Augusta’s legal team again says that ordinance would be struck down based on the First Amendment.

Commission member Brandon Garrett went back and forth with the attorney asking if leaders are wasting their time with these workshops and why it is that other cities are able to uphold their ordinances while Augusta can’t.

A representative of the Richmond County Marshal’s Office weighed, in saying some form of an ordinance might help lead to a series of steps for enforcement. For example, arrests might be a last resort after warnings.

Some just found out about resources available, like free bus tickets to the shelter that the campaign would direct people to.

After a presentation on the “Give Change that Counts” campaign, businesses expressed qualms about issues they’ve had to deal with.

Hilton Garden Inn at Stevens Creek, Frog Hollow Hospitality Group downtown and the Homewood suites have expressed non-guests coming into their lobbies to eat food, people living in bushes nearby and littering, needles in their stairwells, and more.

“I have managers who come to me and say, ‘What do we do about this?’ and I don’t have an answer for them,” said Breannah Newton, Director of Operations with Frog Hollow Hospitality Group. “We had continually asked Richmond County, ‘Hey, we have this gentleman next door, somebody needs to go speak to him, something needs to be done.’”

General Manager of Homewood Suites, Julia Gray said: “It’s hard for us to go through a lot of times and filter these people out. You don’t want to be prejudiced.”

The Sacred Heart Cultural Center described having to spend $15,000 for private security, citing dead people on their sidewalks, excrement, used condoms, and more.

Millie Huff, Executive Director with Sacred Heart of Augusta said: “We’ve had homeless people die on our sidewalk, I pay somebody to help keep up the property from trash that’s created.”

The marshal’s office still says there isn’t enough teeth in what laws are available, as well as low staffing to patrol frequently.

For commissioner Jordan Johnson, it’s making sure homeless efforts already approved don’t get overlooked.

There was a lot of at the meeting for “Give Change that Counts” – which will be on next week’s commission agenda for possible approval – and a Salvation Army bus token transport program.

Among the items distributed at the meeting was a letter from the Georgia Department of Transportation telling the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office that while GDOT has great comion for the homeless, “we cannot continue to allow them to take up residence under our overes.”

GDOT asks the sheriff’s agency for assistance dealing with the problem.

City leaders, however, have been saying that panhandling is a distinctly different issue from homelessness. Some claim that most panhandlers actually are not homeless.

The homelessness issue is being addressed separately – especially in the Washington Road/Interstate 20 area – by an anti-tresing campaign of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

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The PR campaign is one option city leaders know won’t land them in court.

On the line is $25,000 of available funds for the PR campaign aimed at informing the public of panhandling in dense Richmond County areas.

Ten groups have already expressed their , including Golden Harvest Food Bank, the Salvation Army, and the sheriff’s and marshal’s offices.

This would take place online and in person around the Washington Road/Interstate 20 corridor, downtown, the Augusta Mall area on Wrightsboro Road and the Windsor Spring and Peach Orchard intersection

However, leadership with the Homeless Task Force, including Augusta Commission member Jordan Johnson, say the money should go to a homeless plan approved a few years ago, rather than to informing people of how to send their money to those homeless organizations.

Today, all parties are coming to the table to give their 2 cents.

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