Austin’s Daily Commentary – July 13, 2023

Austin: The conversation and the consternation over the homeless issue continues as the fallout from the town hall meeting earlier this week conducted by Sheriff Richard Roundtree and other officials continues to reverberate. One thing that we must remember is that we have a responsibility as average citizens in this fight, and we must be diligent and consistent in the stand that we take.

One thing: do not hand cash out to vagrants and panhandlers. Just don't do it. If you feel like you want to help someone and perhaps you know of a problem, particularly for the physical health and safety of a homeless person, a donation of food or water is certainly appropriate. And I don't think anyone ever stops you or attempts to discourage you from doing that. But handing out cash to these people is something none of us should ever do.

More importantly, I think, is for business owners to be very, very aware that cameras are needed in public locations where they own businesses, particularly restaurants and convenience stores, things of that nature. But anyone that's got buildings and anyone that has square footage that is not being used all the time, make sure that that property is kept under video surveillance at all times.

One of the problems with the homeless, one of the reasons they get around and stick around is because no one pays attention to some of the places they go. And all it takes is, you know, a couple of hours of opportunity to establish a quote unquote, vagrancy residence. And the next thing you know, you've got a real problem on your hand.

We have to all do our part. We have to make sure that we police our own property. We have to make sure that we report all inappropriate activity and vagrancy to authorities in a timely fashion and document everything so that you can help the authorities identify those who have to be handled. And that's the comment, I'm Austin Rhodes, AM 580/95.1 News Talk WGAC.

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