Posted on 07/29/2020 5:16:58 AM PDT by Cecily
It has become a common sight around the city of Atlanta — groups of boys selling bottled water at intersections of busy city roads.
Recently, some of those kids have started to get violent with drivers.
Now, several victims are calling on the mayor, Atlanta City Council and Atlanta Police Department to put a stop to what many are describing as a growing problem.
In an interview with Channel 2 Action News on Monday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms described some of the teens as “up-and-coming entrepreneurs.”
She’s even created an advisory committee that’s going to come up with possible solutions for the kids who want to continue selling water in a safe manner.
But Channel 2′s Michael Seiden has spoken with victims who say enough is enough and that it’s time to get the kids off the streets before someone gets killed.
Antoinette Stevens said she is still in pain following a frightening encounter with a group of teenagers selling bottled water on University Avenue in southwest Atlanta on Friday afternoon.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsbtv.com ...
Yeah. I suppose that WOULD be Keisha’s idea of an “up and coming entrepreneur”. LMAO!
Anyone who lived in the NYC (maybe other places as well) during the late 80’s and into the 90’s knows what it was like to be “solicited” by a squeegee man. If you were stopped at a light or intersection, Mr. Squeegee would come up out of nowhere, flick his squeegee water on your windshield then “offer” to wipe your windshield clean. If you let them do it, you got one drunk’s/drug addled’s attempt at cleaning your windshield (you often drove off and spritzed your windshield with wiper fluid). If you refused, you may just get roused, cursed out, surrounded by Mr. Squeegee’s friends.
Ah, the days of going for a drive in the City!
same crap happened in Ft Laud years ago with dirt bags at intersections washing windshields with out consent and demanding payment. Dont recall how it ended but it did
Squeegee Boys are a big issue in Baltimore. In many cases, if you refuse, you get cursed out and your car gets damaged.
I make it a point to rarely travel through downtown and have only dealt with them once.
I was pretty emphatic that I didn’t want their “service” and the guy walked on.
The concept is good. Offer a clean windshield for some cash, but in reality, it’s more of a shakedown.
Urban America is alien America.
which is WHY one should never drive in Atlanta without this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc
Squeegee boys were a problem in Chicago too.
Mayor Keisha? Lots in common with Mayor Lightfoot. Ummm, scratch that. I mean Mayor Lightweight. LOL!
He started wiping it with a rag, and I kept saying 'No thanks', moving the car as far as I could with the light still red. Finally it changed, and I got away.
He never was aggressive or anything, but that mirror was WAY more dirty and smeared than it was to begin with.
I was driving through the Bronx not too long ago. Instead of squeegee men, there were East African women, in colorful niqabs, selling fruit, newspapers, water, etc…. A team of at least 5 or 6 going among the cars.
They were not aggressive or violent, but they slowed traffic - and I thought I was Mogadishu for a moment.
Some of both for sure.
“... Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms described some of the teens as “up-and-coming entrepreneurs.””
I thought “up and coming entrepreneurs” was a term reserved for novice drug dealers.
I remember being stopped at a traffic light once early, early in the morning and Mr. Squeegee came up to me to wash my windshield. I looked down at the patch of sidewalk where he plied his trade and I saw all the makings of his business model. There were, strewn all over the place, empty bottles of Thunderbird wine and empty cans of Windex spray. There, in all its glory were the results of this cheerful entrepreneur’s entire business practice, his “books” so to speak. The Windex represented his “expense report” (the red) and the Thunderbird his income (the black).
Although, as I think about it now, maybe the Thunderbird was really part of his “expenses”. Ah, he probably knows better than I. I’m not a business man...not like Mr. Squeegee, anyway...
If the community wants to help, why can’t the neighborhoods where they live find odd jobs for them to do to earn some cash, such as cleaning up yards, washing cars or running errands that don’t require a vehicle other than maybe a bicycle? The neighbors would know who the troublemakers are and avoid them.
Man, the dealership offered me that “Riot-Zone” option when I purchased a while back and, after considering it for a moment, I passed.
Things that make you say, “Wish I had a do-over”
Sounds like a lawless shithole, like Mogadishu.
It’s gone from “yutes” to “teens” to now “kids”. And we all know what they have in common.
In NYC in the 80's there were sidewalk chiropractors. You would walk by and they would offer, "loose joints".
This is the same woman whom I heard say (when I was a child): "I have some guns. They're not registered. They're never going to be registered."
The word “children” was also used.
It sounds like some men in the community are trying to help. I hope they don’t get shot for their efforts.
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