# Nashville ... Free bus ticket out



## IBRRHOBO (Jan 4, 2009)

This is a post I ran across in the Knoxville Sentinel quoted from the Tennessean. I thought it might be helpful to anyone stuck and not wanting to brave the weather.


Doorways where the homeless once camped have long been cleared for the new wave of downtown residents: young professionals in sleek high-rise condos.

Metro police enforce strict panhandling laws and issue a flood of misdemeanor citations, but homeless people continue to congregate on the riverfront. Business owners and residents of the downtown push for more enforcement, but blankets and shopping carts sit in their alleys.

And now comes a new Nashville police commander offering a one-way bus ticket out of town.

Supporters of the homeless are wary of the offer, because they’re not sure whom it’s meant to help: the street people, or the people who want to clean up the streets.

It’s described as a means for the poor to get back to family. It’s paid for by a group that urges tourists not to give their spare change to the homeless. And it’s not groundbreaking; a traveler’s aid program is already available in Nashville.

The proponent of the initiative says his intentions are good, but many who work in the advocate community say a free ticket out of town isn’t likely to change anything but the scenery.


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