Atlanta’s 11 Least Influential People: No. 9
November 4, 2007 at 10:00 am by Andisheh Nouraee in NewsCreative Loafing’s countdown of Atlanta’s 11 Least Influential People is a tribute to women and men everywhere struggling to meet the challenges of life in a modern American city.
No. 9 — Lashay Butler
Not allowed to ask for help
(photo by Joeff Davis)
Lashay Butler lives on the streets of Atlanta.
The 33-year-old says her children and their father moved while she was out of town and did not leave any contact information. “My family always took care of me. Now I can’t get in touch with them,” she says. “I went to the police department and they said go to a shelter and give them your name. I went, but they said they couldn’t find them.”
The rest of the circumstances that led to Butler’s homelessness are less than clear. She won’t say where she was or what she was doing when her family left. And when asked if she has a substance-abuse problem, she paused and her first answer was a hesitant “No, not really.”
What’s clear, however, is that Butler needs help, from her family, from a friend or from a social worker. And until that happens, she needs help from passers-by.
She needs food. She needs money to buy food. But asking for money for food in parts of downtown Atlanta is a punishable offense, punishable by up to one month in jail, because the city passed an anti-begging ordinance in 2005.
“You can still get a dollar,” she says, but it’s harder since the ordinance. “People wanna call the police on you.”
Visit Fresh Loaf Monday morning for No. 8 on our countdown of Atlanta’s 11 Least Influential People.
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November 9th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
What? I live downtown, and the residentially challenged ask me for money all the time. And the police are too busy eating donuts to enforce serious laws, let alone the one against direct commercial address.
November 15th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
A lot of people I’ve talked to in Atlanta have a really bad attitude towards homeless people. When I see someone begging from my car, I don’t give them money in case they have a substance abuse problem, but I keep packs of trail mix in my car and give them a few. The leadership of Atlanta doesn’t seem to care about the homeless, and it’s sad.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Are you guys serious? If anyone believes that Lashay or most of the homeless people are asking for money for food, there’s a bridge I’d like to sell you. I have an uncle with a drug habit. If you offer him food or drugs, he will take the drugs every time. We have learned the hard way not to give him money. I will gladly buy a hungry drug/alcohol addicted person something to eat but I will not give them money.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Tracey, I seldom give people money, precisely for the reason you describe.
Nevertheless, even people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol eat food.