The Nashville Scene Vilifies Downtown Dwellers! Film at 11.

The Nashville Scene ran a story this week entitled “Outlawing the Poor: Nashville’s new class war pits the down-and-out against up-and-comers and their powerful allies.” BTW, if you are looking for unbiased press, well, The Scene has never been the place to find that. This free weekly rag is rife with stories about some big bad corporate/industry entity oppressing the little guy. This week’s headline is no different.

Quick Sum up: The new panhandling ordinance (which does not really 'ban' panhandling, only puts limits on it) is affecting the homeless and there has been a crack down on unlawful behavior (trespassing, public drunkenness), leading to fines and the like. But the ‘worst’ offenders of all are the people who want to go to work and home without being harassed on the street or having someone sleep on their door stoop. God forbid! Chock full of fun 'Facts' written with an interesting 'spin'...like this one.

"Metro itself spends a relative pittance—roughly $2 million a year in local tax money—on services for the homeless, mostly to fund a free health clinic and to pay caseworkers in a pilot program helping 35 people find jobs and housing. There are an estimated 2,200 homeless people in Nashville.
At the same time, the city has given $15 million in tax incentives since 2002 to developers building pricey downtown condos. And it would have been more except that Tony Giarratana, who ignited the downtown residential market by building the Viridian in 2006, actually walked away from a $12 million city financing package for his latest project—the 65-story Signature Towers, a posh condo/hotel skyscraper that would rise higher than any building in the Southeast. By rejecting the city’s money, he was relieved of any responsibility to include a few affordable apartments."

Is it me or is $2 million over the last 6 years ($12 million) on homeless services, pretty darn close to $15 million (time line not noted) on tax incentives toward downtown investors? Why write it this way unless it's intended to engender sympathy toward one party over the other? I wonder if the writer of this article lives downtown, or if, like some of the other writers I know at The Scene, he resides in some posh house on a hill in Belle Meade/Bellevue with his opinions and swimming pool.

In 2002 I lived downtown in a 2nd Ave. loft that faced the river. It was a sweet setup. True, there was the bar downstairs (before it moved) that would play live music every night even though my landlord promised me it was only 3 nights or so a week, but by far, it was the best (not to mention coolest place) I’ve lived, to date! (I watched the Cake concert at Dancin' in the District from my windows the night the Thermal Plant burned!) I had a roommate who was about as big as my little finger and we shared the one bedroom apartment We had to park 3 blocks and around the corner away from our building in a lot that became ‘not our lot’ as soon as their was an event. Our monthly parking pass was invalid, for example, on Game Days or for any festival like Fan Fair. It was an act of God to get groceries home, because back then, there was no little Grocery Store near Printers Alley. The closest store was near Metro Center!

I also busked on the streets on weekends and while I frequently was handed a hot plate of food by some well meaning church lady who assumed I was homeless, I also met many people in the mean time, both as I played and when I walked Freckles. There were always the drifters; young hippie type kids who wanted to live ‘off the grid’ i.e., stay gone so long that they could be declared legally dead (7 years) and give up their Social Security number, the drunks and the druggies missing teeth from their crack habit and/or lack of dental hygiene, the harmlessly slow or mentally ill, the scam artists who tried to play me over and over again thinking I wouldn’t remember them. I lived downtown!! I saw them every day! As if I wouldn’t remember that they were once again trying to get some money for gas/ bus fare/ whatever unique thing they had thought of, but was the same story every time. My favorite was the 'dime guy' who asked everyone for a dime. Just a dime…it reminded me of the line from the song ‘Brother, can you spare a dime?” Even the buskers had their spot, their story, their spin. The big black guy with a chair who played like a (very) drunk B.B. King on 2nd Ave, you didn’t go in his territory. Rumor was, he was pulling down $500-$600 per weekend. There were the crazies too, the ones who wandered around yelling to themselves and everyone else, who didn’t want your pity or your money. I was glad for a big dog when they came around.

My roommate (the tiny one), who must have had a sign that said ‘easy target’ stuck on her had people follow her for blocks harassing her, try to push their way into our building at night when she tried to come in the giant (locked) blue front doors. It got to where she would sometimes call and I’d go meet her and let her in so she had ‘backup.’ This was not a good situation.

But my point is, there are no real "bad guys" in this scenario. Just people. Humanity bumping up against each other, and sometimes rubbing each 0ther the wrong way. For me personally, there is something intimidating about someone who is willing to live off the grid. Someone who doesn't have a permanent location where I can send the usual authorities if they hurt me, won’t leave me alone, or try to break in. They live by no rules, and I like rules, like I like walls in my house. They keep out the stuff I don't want, and keep safe the stuff I do.

In those days, on my walks home, I walked like I knew exactly what was going on, striding with my ‘don’t F*%# with me’ stride. Truth be told, as a woman, alone on the city street at night, I was scared, a lot. But, even now, it’s not guilt (as the homeless kid in the article said) I feel when I see them. I'm not having an 'existential crisis,' because I have a car and a bed and they don't. It’s more like staring at a gaping hole in the universe. Here is someone who has lost all connection with family, old friends, education, the world as I know it. 'What brought them here?',' How did they get so lost?', and mostly, 'Could this happen to me and if it did, would anyone notice?' These are the questions I ask.

So...to sum up (with many rabbit trails)
Is limiting panhandling a good thing?
Maybe. It sets up safe boundaries for me to protect myself and not live in fear. I understand it's not convenient, but it's still allowed, just not near bus stops, schools, ATMs, or businesses that don't allow it, and not after dark. Basically at places where people have to/need to be, places that need to be safe, and times that lend themselves to trouble.

Is wanting to feel safe in my own home, or in my own ‘front yard’ (even though it may be a sidewalk) bad?
No. And kudos to those who do something about it! If these people were lounging on someone’s front stoop in any other part of town, asking for money, or to just to sleep there, almost anyone would give them the boot. Why does it make a downtown dweller a 'jerk' to ask for the same thing?

Does there need to be something else in place to help the ones who truly want help?
Definitely. The city of Nashville should have a big part in this, and, I think, eventually will. And for those who choose to live this way, for whatever reason, some rules in how they bump up against humanity are not bad.