Tag Archives: cop

Posted
April 10, 2009
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What’s missing from Panhandler’s Park?

(l) What's missing? (r) Where's the benches?

(l) What's missing? (r) Where are the benches?

This morning, Audrie and I left Green Bean and walked across the street to Panhandler’s Park to sit and plan what all we had to do today to get ready for NightWatch tonight. But when we walked up the sidewalk, I noticed right away that something was missing — all the benches were gone!  That little patch of green at Elm and McGee was nicknamed “Panhandler’s Park” for a reason.  Is the City practicing a little reverse hospitality?  I guess there’s more than one way to discourage panhandling.

Audrie was righteously indigent and I was sardonically amused.  (We make a good team.)  We went and sat on the concrete where one of the benches had been.   When a friend walked by, I asked him to take our picture.  I also asked him for a dollar, but he laughed and said, “No.”  So, no 40 for me this morning.  Dang it.  Don’t tell the cops, please.  I don’t have a panhandler’s license.  ;)

Posted
March 31, 2009
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The guy from the bench at Friendly is back

Mark Hoffman, aka “the homeless guy who sits on the bench at Friendly,” aka “the most famous homeless person in Greensboro” (and now North Carolina) is back in town. He’s not back on his bench. (A homeless couple ran him off. There’s a homeless couple there now. Not sure if it’s the same couple.) But he’s back at his church.

Read more from the News & Record: “Long journey home: Friends welcome a familiar face”

And no, I don’t know Mark, although I know cops and service providers who do. People like him. A lot. And yes, I’d love to meet him and hear his story. Not the story we always read in the paper about how he went from here to there and it was really far and people were either happy or sad about it. But, you know, the real story. Homeless style. He’s a regular person. No matter where he sleeps. I’d love to talk to him. Just listen, mostly. I hope we cross paths someday.

» Previously

Posted
March 21, 2009
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Surveillance: City of Greensboro uses talking camera to move homeless along

Surveilling the homeless: What will the City of Greensboro think of next?

From a formerly homeless friend’s Facebook wall:

“FREE PHOTO SHOOT-care to have your picture taken? -As of yesterday a new camera was put on the block. UNDER SURVEILLANCE-hmm… the block has been put on surveillance. There is a nice camera that takes your picture, and then tells you that you need to go. Its posted.”

She wrote this on my Facebook wall:

“Have u seen the latest new toy the city and cops put up? Its one of those snap shot cameras- its on the top of the pole by the store-there is a sign that reads:-) this area is under surveillance. it talks to you too. it snaps your picture and tells you to leave. the ppl on the block got a kick out of it.”

“The block” is the street name for the intersection of Lee and Eugene, downtown, by the entrance to the city’s largest homeless shelter. There’s also a fried chicken restaurant and convenience store on that corner. The sidewalk out front has long been a social gathering spot. Some of the problems cops have responded to there include loitering, drinking, fighting, and urinating in public.

I understand the City’s problem with the block, but most of the people who hang out on there don’t have anywhere else to go. I wonder what the talking surveillance camera says? It makes me think of song lyrics: “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

I guess I’ll be visiting the block today…

Update: Word from friends on the street is that dealers hang out on the block and sell crack and pot, and sometimes people smoke it right there, too. I knew about the drinking. Not about the smoking. That’s kind of crazy. Right out in the open?

Posted
March 5, 2009
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A cop’s thoughts on the Shiloh signs

A Greensboro police officer responds to the news that Shiloh Baptist Church, near the corner of Lee and Eugene Streets, is changing their entrance signs from “No Trespassing” to “Welcome to Shiloh:”

“I remember when the signs went up and the problems they were having. They went up because the congregation [was] complaining that people were using the trees to urinate on and to sit on the park bench to drink alcohol and pass out on. It pushed the parents from bringing there kids to play.  Also the congregation said the benches smelled of urine so bad they wouldn’t use them.  They were afraid that kids going to classes at the church and to church would witness this activity so they pushed to make the park more secure.

That being said I think that Rev Johnson is in a great location to help the homeless and making the steps to start and I commend him for that; this is also a great opportunity to make a good impact in the community. But it is a big task especially where he is located and hopefully he has the entire church supporting him.

Remember big signs like that are put up for a reason, and I remember the hardship they were having and the decisions they had to make as a church.”

Posted
January 31, 2009
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Homeless man struck and killed by car on his way to shelter

A homeless man, Ronald Wrenn, was hit by a car on Friday night while crossing South Eugene Street on his way to the Salvation Army Center of Hope’s emergency overflow night shelter.  He died shortly afterward** at Moses Cone Hospital.  I found out just after it happened from our church’s outreach director, Marshall, who’d talked to the downtown cops that we do street outreach with.  They’d just been at the scene of the accident.  I went by the hospital later to check on him and found out that he’d died.  Family members had already been notified.  I had posted a message to Facebook earlier, asking all our friends to pray for him, but I waited to blog about it because the information had not yet been released to the public.  It was posted on the web site of the News & Record a little while ago, so I’m posting it now, too.

I didn’t know Ronald well; Marshall knew him better.  Ronald ate at the weekly community dinners at our church, Grace Community, at the Food Not Bombs dinners at the library on Monday nights, and we’d seen him on NightWatch.  I remember him as being very polite and quiet, not much of a talker, but always smiling and thankful for the meals we served.

I talked to my friend and ministry partner Audrie last night, when I found out about the accident, and again after I found out that he died.  We are both shocked and sad.  I’m praying for the young lady who hit him.  I can’t imagine how traumatizing that must be for her.  That’s a very dangerous stretch of road for pedestrians to cross.  We tell our NightWatch volunteers to be very careful when they leave the parking lot at night, because there are a lot of people walking and crossing the road in that area, and it’s dark and hard to see them.  This is just so, so sad.

LORD, be with the family, and with our friends who knew Ronald, and give them comfort and peace…

**UPDATE: Just got a phone call. Although news reports say Ronald died at the hospital, witnesses tell me that Ronald died at the scene. Based on what they saw, they believe that he was killed instantly or died within minutes. I hope that this is true, because it means that he probably didn’t suffer. One of his friends tells me, “He had a lot of friends… He was well-liked on the street.” Also, he used to fly a sign right off of Westover Terrace, by the elementary school, so you may have seen him. I’ll try to get a picture of him.