Despite a 1997 city law banning aggressive panhandling, the shelters are still magnets for vagrants and inebriates. A strong law is on the books. But enforcement of the 1997 law appears spotty. Since its passage, charges have been filed only 22 times citywide. It's intimidating when a panhandler approaches people inside a High Street bus shelter.
Beggars literally have their marks cornered.
The shelters, designed to shield riders from rain and wind, offer only two narrow openings. But rerouting buses to rid High Street of vagrants is like chopping off your head to cure a sinus infection. Further, COTA has a right to be on High Street. It paid for it. Rerouting is unlikely.