It was at the Stag.Mants wrote:Will, I am interested to know where you experienced this? The main culprits seem to be Rundle Street and Gouger Street I find. As somebody who visits these precincts frequently, I have to agree, this is becoming a real problem and seems to be getting worse.Will wrote:Having recently had an alfresco dining experience ruined by beggars, I feel we need to discuss this growing problem affecting the attractiveness of our city
I was recently dining outside of a Gouger Street restaurant when a clearly intoxicated indigenous woman approached myself and a friend, asking for money. After telling her to leave us alone as we were in the middle of our meal, the woman began to insult me and my friend. A waitress who happened to be nearby overheard this and asked the woman to move on. The woman then proceeded to shout racial slurs at the waitress and told her to "go back to where she came from" (the waitress happened to be Asian). I was pretty appalled by this completely antisocial behaviour and the waitress was visibly upset by the confrontation.
And to that, I have lost count of the amount of times I have been approached for money by beggars along Rundle Street. One beggar who I have seen around frequently recently approached me, shouted "hello" in my face and attempted to shake my hand while I was clearly eating and holding a knife and fork. It is also very common whilst sitting outside the Austral or Exeter for somebody to whisper, "hide your smokes and wallet" amongst the table, as a beggar winds their way between chairs asking patrons for money or trying to scab cigarettes.
I remember years ago, The Parade used to be really bad for beggars, but it seems to have improved since then. I would be interested to know why and how this occurred. O'Connell Street, on the other hand, seems to have gotten worse, even in the last 12 months.
Despite all this, I do not necessarily feel as if the presence of beggars is affecting the attractiveness of Adelaide as a city. This is probably a problem which most cities around the world have to deal with, and we are nowhere near as bad as cities I've been to in Asia and South America.
It has completely put me off eating alfresco again in the CBD.
Not only was I as well as my companion harassed by 3 separate beggars, 1 of which actually abused my friend because he didn't give the required $5 note, to top off the night, a group of 10 clearly intoxicated Indigenous people decided to have a fight on the footpath next to where we were eating. One of them landed on our table, spilling one of our drinks.
Absolutely disgusting.