January 13th, 2020 by WCBC Radio
The issue of panhandlers becoming more aggressive and threatening in Downtown Cumberland in the past few years is an issue the City Council and the city Police Department are looking into to start the new year. Complaints downtown involve drinking, foul language, alleged drug dealing, fights and panhandling. The infractions, according to citizens, have been taking place despite the presence of two code officers in the downtown during the daytime. A public town hall meeting on the subject was held at City Hall in late October as business owners and downtown residents offered input on ways to deter panhandling, loitering and other unwanted behavior in the historic city center. Suggestions offered at that session ranged from installing video cameras and increasing police presence to adopting a no-smoking ordinance for the city center. Mayor Ray Morriss tells WCBC News that since the meeting the city has been working to create some ordinances with more teeth in them that may better deter such behavior…
.jpeg)
January 13, 2020 at 8:48 am, Bob said:
Cumberland keeps finding new paths to decline. Downtown being a ghost town wasn’t bad enough so now it is populated with bums. Well, maybe giving them a spruced up area to roam will help. Other places have phases of various problems and get out of them while we add new ones but keep the old as well while going ever further into debt to boot. Let’s hope the couple grand a month for the town propagandist will sort matters.
January 13, 2020 at 9:13 am, jim said:
Free one-way bus tickets to Florida or California. Cap it at 100-200 per year.
January 13, 2020 at 9:49 am, j.r. lepley said:
when they WASTE all that money down town,,maybe we ll get a better class of bum s!!!!!
January 13, 2020 at 10:02 am, mac said:
Video cameras are not a means to aid enforcement of any ordinance they are a recording device.
There needs to be an increased police presence to enforce existing ordinances and, unfortunately, panhandling is not against the law.
The powers that be have, in the past, tried to institute a dress code on the mall, a complete joke, tried to prevent loitering and, at the same time, provide benches and other seating and now they would like to ban smoking.
As if banning anything will actually prevent the presence of individuals that others see as undesirable.
You might not like them but if they aren’t breaking any laws you can’t keep them away.
January 13, 2020 at 11:24 am, jim said:
I also recommend sending them to outer space.
January 13, 2020 at 11:41 am, Kevin said:
It’s a problem, but the ‘problem’ is a symptom of the greater problems, generations with no real jobs, poor education, and the massive drug problems that have crippled this area. It is a futile gesture to deal with this given the planned gutting of the pedestrian mall. It’s like moving the deck chairs after the Titanic met the iceberg.
January 13, 2020 at 6:30 pm, Paolo Primavera said:
Let us impliment a dress code for downtown. We could require men to wear $150.00 Suits and ties. NOTE: They must also carry the receipt for the suit at all times while downtown. Proper footwear must be in good taste and compliment the suit. Women must dress smartly and in fashion. NO Old Granny Clothes. Their shoes and handbags must match or compliment each other. If this simple law was enacted, there would be no bums, undesirables, or panhandlers anywhere downtown unless they could find access to the proper clothing to wear. The police would arrest and jail anyone breaking the law and we would have a happy city for our citizens to enjoy.
January 14, 2020 at 5:12 am, Mark said:
Just more of the local Yuppie class, that think themselves as ‘Elite’ having their delicate sensibilities offended by just the PRESENCE of what they consider ‘poor trash’. I go downtown often and have never been bothered or seen anyone else ‘bothered’. Assholes like Seth Bernard are embarrassed by poor people even existing and live in fear that some ‘tourist’ might see them and it will reflect badly on him. gtfo.
January 14, 2020 at 11:20 am, Bob said:
The fact that outspoken locals view folks in inexpensive suits as too posh and graduates of colleges with a 71% acceptance rate as yuppies helps explain why the area has become a dumping ground for the castoffs of other areas.
January 14, 2020 at 12:50 pm, Mark said:
> That’s how they see THEMSELVES- as the ‘yuppie’ class that looks down on anyone that makes less or meets their refined ‘taste’. We’re a dumping ground for the poor because the same yuppie leaders won’t do a damn thing for what they see as ‘peons’ They wish the ‘deplorables’ would just go away!
January 14, 2020 at 12:51 pm, Mark said:
> doesn’t meet