Fresh off the bus from Flint, Mich., Tom Isaac quickly learned what the people who live, work and frequent downtown Atlanta have come to grudgingly accept.

"Atlanta is the biggest panhandling city I've been to," said Isaac, 21, who came south in search of better weather and a healthier job market. Even though he's living on the streets, he's grown weary of being solicited by other beggars.

"The same guy asked me for money five times yesterday," he said, noting the competition is fierce. "I've been to Detroit and Houston, but it's nothing like here."

Perhaps the city's next slogan should be, "Brother, can you spare a dime?"

A study commissioned recently by the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau confirms that panhandling is a major problem, and it's getting worse.

A sampling of 164 out-of-towners interviewed from October 2007 to February of this year said panhandling ranked second —- behind traffic —- among the things they disliked most about Atlanta. The complaints about begging increased significantly from a similar survey conducted a year earlier.

"In addition, comments regarding the details of the panhandling experiences reflected more aggressive interactions with panhandlers," the Downtown Experience Study said. "Several comments indicated that panhandlers followed people."

Those visitors might be surprised to learn the city passed an anti-panhandling ordinance in August 2005. The ban on verbal begging was enacted for a so-called "tourist triangle" that extends from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive north to Ralph McGill Boulevard and from Marietta Street east to Piedmont Avenue.

At the time, Mayor Shirley Franklin said the law eventually would eliminate panhandling downtown. But almost three years later, beggars maintain a significant presence, especially at night.

"It's going in the wrong direction," said Debbie Cannon, a professor at Georgia State University's School of Hospitality Administration and leader of the study.

Contact with panhandlers marred how visitors saw Atlanta, Cannon said, especially when compared with those who reported no such interactions.

"It impacted negatively the perception that Atlanta is a clean city," she said. "It is pretty evident that the panhandlers in the city are getting more aggressive."

Greg Pridgeon, Franklin's chief of staff, acknowledged the city has yet to adequately deal with downtown panhandlers.

"We are trying to create a preventative strategy within our means," he said. "The mayor is committed to finding additional strategies to address this."

Ban 'not working'

Downtown business leaders say they support revisiting the 2005 panhandling ban.

"You've got to change the ordinance," said Spurgeon Richardson, president of the convention and visitors bureau. "It is not working."

The business community contends, and police agree, that the current law lacks teeth.

In an attempt to assuage free-speech and homeless advocates, the ordinance was written to allow begging if it is done "passively" and "without addressing the request to any specific person." And there's no punishment for the first two violations. At worst, offenders face a day or two in jail —- not so bad, when the other option is a concrete pillow.

Arrests for panhandling actually have decreased since the ban was passed.

From Jan. 1 to March 31 last year, 250 people were charged with "accosting or soliciting by force," according to statistics from the Atlanta Police Department. Each successive quarter saw a significant drop in arrests, from 164 to 108 to 75. That trend has continued in 2008, with only 64 arrests as of March 31.

"It's certainly a problem, and it's certainly a concern," said Sgt. Brent Schierbaum, who heads the police department's Homeless Outreach and Progressive (formerly Panhandling) Enforcement squad. "It's a complaint we hear a lot from businesses and citizens. But we can't be everywhere at once."

Schierbaum confirmed the 2005 ordinance is not being enforced.

"Police officers want to do the job, but they're undermanned to start off with, and there's no real arrest component in the ordinance," said Ron Fennell, a hospitality industry consultant. "The image we're sending to guests is that we're tolerant of criminals harassing people."

Persistent problem

Those who live and work downtown are likewise frustrated with what one business owner called "a problem that won't go away."

"It's gotten worse since I've been down here," said Caleb Wheelus, one of the owners of Slice restaurant on Poplar Street, which opened in 2006.

"The really unfortunate thing is that you'll see more of them [panhandlers] downtown at night than regular people."

It happens daily, said Dan Altman, a Georgia State senior who lives in a downtown condo. "Sometimes you just keep walking. Other times you want to scream at them. You just have to learn to get used to it."

Solutions won't come easily. The 2005 ordinance was passed after two months of contentious debate, with threats of legal action from the American Civil Liberties Union and pleas from homeless advocates accusing the city of targeting poor people.

"We have been pushed back a lot by the legal community," Pridgeon said.

Meanwhile, the panhandlers keep coming. It seems "The City Too Busy to Hate" has developed a welcoming reputation among the homeless.

"There's probably more [panhandlers] in New York City, but Atlanta is a close second," said David Rozier, 47, who said he's lived on the streets for 15 years. He's been stationed on Marietta Street downtown for the past month, holding a cardboard sign requesting money so he can make it back home to Columbia, S.C.

"Some of those guys, they make it hard for me 'cause they're following people around, getting all in their face," Rozier said. "They make it bad for the rest of us."

WHAT VISITORS DISLIKE ABOUT ATLANTA

(Study commissioned by the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. Out-of-town visitors were interviewed from late October 2007-February 2008 at downtown hotels and the Georgia Aquarium.)

> Traffic: 16.8%

> Panhandlers: 12.4%

> Not enough time: 10.6%

> Problems with traveling: 8%

> The weather: 7.1%

> Felt unsafe/uncomfortable in certain areas of town: 7.1%

 DALE E. DODSON / Staff 
PANHANDLING ARRESTS DOWN
Graph illustrates, in shaded bars, the decrease in panhandling arrests. 
2008 
1st quarter: 64
2007 
4th quarter: 75
3rd quarter: 108
2nd quarter: 164
1st quarter: 250
Source: Atlanta Police Dept.