The president of the Atlanta City Council said he is glad Mayor Kasim Reed and Michael Julian Bond, chair of the City Council’s public safety committee, came to terms over legislation aimed at aggressive panhandlers.
“I’m very glad to see that there’s kind of a coming together,” Ceasar Mitchell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Certainly, something needs to be done [about aggressive panhandling]. There has been no enforcement. The police department has found it very difficult. I was glad to see the mayor and Michael Bond find a path together to address this issue that we all agree is a problem.”
Reed recently vetoed legislation pushed by Bond that would have allowed for up to 180 days in jail following a conviction. But the two men appeared together at a press conference Tuesday in support of an alternative bill that clarifies the definition of aggressive panhandling.
“The council wants to work with the mayor,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t want to see us stumble over each other.”
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