Atlanta considers banning baggy pants

inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
edited August 2007 in A Moving Train
epidemic....?!?! like the bird flu...?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070823/ap_on_fe_st/atlanta_sagging_pants



2 hours, 10 minutes ago

Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws.

The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.

"Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

The proposed ordinance states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.

The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.

But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.

"This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling," Seagraves said.

Martin, who is black, said he plans to hold public hearings and vet the proposal through churches, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. The proposal will get its first public airing next Tuesday in the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

"The purpose of the paper is to generate some conversation to see if we can find a solution," Martin said. "It will be like all the discussions we've had around the value of the hip-hop culture. We know there are First Amendment issues ... and some will say I'm just trying to put young black men in jail, but it's going to be fines."

Makeda Johnson, an Atlanta mother of a 14-year-old girl, said she is glad Martin introduced the proposal. She does not want to see a law against clothing, but said she thinks teenagers are sending a message with a way of dressing that is based in jailhouse behavior.

Atlanta would not be the first city to take on sagging pants.

Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    This is stupid and a waste of tax money.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • josevolutionjosevolution Posts: 30,216
    inmytree wrote:
    epidemic....?!?! like the bird flu...?

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070823/ap_on_fe_st/atlanta_sagging_pants



    2 hours, 10 minutes ago

    Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws.

    The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.

    "Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

    The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

    The proposed ordinance states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.

    The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.

    But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.

    "This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling," Seagraves said.

    Martin, who is black, said he plans to hold public hearings and vet the proposal through churches, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. The proposal will get its first public airing next Tuesday in the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

    "The purpose of the paper is to generate some conversation to see if we can find a solution," Martin said. "It will be like all the discussions we've had around the value of the hip-hop culture. We know there are First Amendment issues ... and some will say I'm just trying to put young black men in jail, but it's going to be fines."

    Makeda Johnson, an Atlanta mother of a 14-year-old girl, said she is glad Martin introduced the proposal. She does not want to see a law against clothing, but said she thinks teenagers are sending a message with a way of dressing that is based in jailhouse behavior.

    Atlanta would not be the first city to take on sagging pants.

    Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

    how about if these assholes concentrate on getting the message out to the kids that dog fighting is an epidemic instead ......
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • gue_bariumgue_barium Posts: 5,515
    know1 wrote:
    This is stupid and a waste of tax money.

    And when politicians propose such bullshit it tends to make the "problem" worse.

    all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
    except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
  • upina2001upina2001 Indiana Posts: 764
    ive seen reports on this and they seem pretty confident that this may help things. Plus the parents will be fined if the kids continue to violate the rules.
    Of course, its a good money maker too!!

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  • LikeAnOceanLikeAnOcean Posts: 7,718
    Aren't baggy pants out of style yet? They should fine these people for being stuck in the past.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    Well hey it's Atlanta afterall. Work on Infrastructure???? and raise taxes???? Hell no, but pander to part of the population to remain in power?

    Sign me up.

    The water system is nearly 100 years old and breaks daily but is not upgraded. They continually pay the daily EPA fine instead.

    The lowest common denominator voting in the lowest common denominator what else would you expect from a city that named a road after Cynthia Mckinney and Ralph David Abernathy?

    Add that to the Criminal Bill Campbell as the mayor for a good long while stealing money from everywhere he could.

    At least Mayor Shirley Franklin is doing as good a job as she can in that piss poor environment.


    To stop saggy pants you would have to change the culture of the people..... GOOD freaking luck with that...Bill Cosby. The people don't want to change and they do pretty well begging and stealing so why work?

    The people don't have any money, fines are ridiculous when you can't pay your rent or power if those aren't a priority...I seriously doubt a fine will be, and the jail is full.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • anothercloneanotherclone Posts: 1,688
    I've heard of the government trying to legislate morality. But fashion? Man, that's crazy.
  • bootlegger10bootlegger10 Posts: 16,053
    They wouldn't need this ban if people didn't dress like assholes. "Maybe I'll get more respect if I pull my pants down and show my boxers."
  • wow is that a waste of time and money...
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
  • NMyTreeNMyTree Posts: 2,374
    This is as ridiculous as the fashion sense (or lack of) they are trying to eliminate.

    No one laughs harder and longer than I do when I see people dressed that way ( and for the record, there's plenty of white people and of other races, dressing that way). It's hilarious!

    It's cute when I put a pair of my three year old son's shorts, on my one year old son. Damn cute!

    When you're four years old or older, you look like a fuckin' circus clown, lol!


    Guys, if you can't walk up the street without constantly grabbing your pants and pulling them up, so they rest comfortably right below your ass cheeks and don't fall to your ankles; then, you should stop wearing your pants just below your ass cheeks. Size 48 pants in a 28 waist, make you look like a bozo with a dressing disorder. I see these clowns walking up the street and their pants routinely fall down. Sorry buddy, I don't want to see your boxer shorts and anything else. It's just plain stupid and ignorant. You don't go out in public in your underwear. It's not offensive to me, it's just bad form, thrashy, classless and downright butt-ugly.

    Guys, if you're a fat guy, dude, knock it off! No one wants to see that!



    Ladies, while I highly admire your thongs in the privacy of the home, it's trashy, bad form, classless and downright stupid! Sweetheart, if you're 5' 6" and weigh-in at 170 lbs, you need to keep your thong hidden, your pants pulled up, wear looser fitting jeans and shirts that cover your mid-rift.

    Wearing size 5 jeans with a size 9 ass, really does you no justice. There are many beautiful, sexy and higly attractive women who are over-weight. But most of them know how to dress themselves and highlight their attributes....correctly.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    Friends don't let friends dress or act like KFED.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • anothercloneanotherclone Posts: 1,688
    I think showing your thong (the underwear) is sooooo 2004? ;)

    I saw this chick in the airport in Philly that her pants were so low and her shirt was so short that you could not only see her thong in the back BUT IN THE FRONT AS WELL! Fucking disgusting fashion disaster.
  • Clearly unconstitutional. Private homes and businesses should have the right to ban them though. As long as people aren't walking around naked I don't see what Atlanta can do about it.
    All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.
    -Enoch Powell
  • sweet adelinesweet adeline Posts: 2,191
    i'm all in favor of seeing girls thongs.
  • If you dress like what the police are tipped off by...then...well

    abide by it or, join the baggy pants revolution, and hope to change minds.

    I never understood the sloppy "I just shit myself" look personally...
    http://www.floridatoday.com/blogs/talktome/uploaded_images/baggy_pants_criminals-722845.jpg
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • hippiemomhippiemom Posts: 3,326
    I don't care for people who dress in any of these ways (well, I can't say I understand the problem with women wearing athletic gear to engage in athletic activities, but other than that), but in addition to being virtually impossible to enforce, and quite likely being unconstitutional, it's a huge waste of time. It's fashion, it's going to change, just wait for it to go away.

    I only hope the parents of these kids are taking lots of pictures to show to their grandkids one day, so they can have a big laugh at mom & dad's expense. "Omg mom, I can't believe you used to run around with your underwear sticking out!"
    "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    inmytree wrote:
    The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

    they will never get me on board with this one! this is what makes putting up with the summer heat worthwhile :)

    that said, i guess it's their city. i see no reason they can't decide this is how they want their community to be if they are also allowed to control where people can smoke, what they can smoke, parking tickets, public drunkenness, and so on.
  • JaneNYJaneNY Posts: 4,438
    know1 wrote:
    This is stupid and a waste of tax money.

    We agree on this!

    I think that look of pants belted BELOW the ass looks completely ASSinine, however its a free country, or at least it was at one time, and there's more important things to worry about.
    R.i.p. Rigoberto Alpizar.
    R.i.p. My Dad - May 28, 2007
    R.i.p. Black Tail (cat) - Sept. 20, 2008
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    Clearly unconstitutional. Private homes and businesses should have the right to ban them though. As long as people aren't walking around naked I don't see what Atlanta can do about it.

    what difference does that make? why is naked bad? where is the line drawn? what if their shirt is so open you see nipples?

    i say if you can ban nudity, you can ban clothes you don't like. i think it's fucking stupid and a waste of time, but i don't live there so it isn't my problem.
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    are tall t shirts and flat billed baseball hats next? its not my style but i kind of like the "loc dog" look.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • In other news...in the gay neighborhoods walking around with full on oiled up and throbbing erection is considered somewhat over the top...which has just come up a few notches in the past few months to edge out assless chaps http://members.arstechnica.com/x/zuvembi/pink-assless-chaps.jpg
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • In other news...in the gay neighborhoods walking around with full on oiled up and throbbing erection is considered somewhat over the top...which has just come up a few notches in the past few months to edge out assless chaps http://members.arstechnica.com/x/zuvembi/pink-assless-chaps.jpg

    Any true PJ fan supports assless chaps for one obvious reason: Mike McCready's supple ass.
    All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.
    -Enoch Powell
  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    that said, i guess it's their city. i see no reason they can't decide this is how they want their community to be if they are also allowed to control where people can smoke, what they can smoke, parking tickets, public drunkenness, and so on.
    If NYC can ban trans fat in restaurants I see this as no worse an invasion of privacy or personal rights.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • Any true PJ fan supports assless chaps for one obvious reason: Mike McCready's supple ass.

    I heard in the right light that it's so tight it's almost shines...
    Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
    and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
    over specific principles, goals, and policies.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg

    (\__/)
    ( o.O)
    (")_(")
  • Leave it to my screwed up city to make national news with something like this (shudders). I'm convinced that if it's a f'd up news story, it's nexus is in Atlanta: ie. Mike Vick, Runaway Bride, Benoit, Courthouse Shooter Brian Nichols, Cynthia McKinney, ect.
  • Doesn't your constitution have something about the right to bare arms, legs, and buttcrack?:p
    Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
  • dharma69dharma69 Posts: 1,275
    inmytree wrote:
    epidemic....?!?! like the bird flu...?

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070823/ap_on_fe_st/atlanta_sagging_pants



    2 hours, 10 minutes ago

    Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws.

    The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.

    "Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

    The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

    The proposed ordinance states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.

    The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.

    But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.

    "This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling," Seagraves said.

    Martin, who is black, said he plans to hold public hearings and vet the proposal through churches, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. The proposal will get its first public airing next Tuesday in the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

    "The purpose of the paper is to generate some conversation to see if we can find a solution," Martin said. "It will be like all the discussions we've had around the value of the hip-hop culture. We know there are First Amendment issues ... and some will say I'm just trying to put young black men in jail, but it's going to be fines."

    Makeda Johnson, an Atlanta mother of a 14-year-old girl, said she is glad Martin introduced the proposal. She does not want to see a law against clothing, but said she thinks teenagers are sending a message with a way of dressing that is based in jailhouse behavior.

    Atlanta would not be the first city to take on sagging pants.

    Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.
    Politicians are without a clue. This is hardly the solution to the so-called "problem".

    If they just outlawed underwear there wouldn't be any issues of it being exposed by baggy or any other kind of clothing.

    Fucktards.
    "I'm here to see Pearl Jam."- Bono

    ...signed...the token black Pearl Jam fan.

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  • JuberooJuberoo Posts: 472
    They wouldn't need this ban if people didn't dress like assholes. "Maybe I'll get more respect if I pull my pants down and show my boxers."
    ROFL that "cracked" me up!
    Makes much more sense, to live in the present tense.

    A truly liberal person is conservative when necessary.

    Pro-life by choice.
  • JuberooJuberoo Posts: 472
    i'm all in favor of seeing girls thongs.
    yeah me too....

    of seeing them all burned!

    Whoever created thongs is an idiot. I can't stand them....its like walking around with a permanent wedgie.....stupid design!
    Makes much more sense, to live in the present tense.

    A truly liberal person is conservative when necessary.

    Pro-life by choice.
  • JuberooJuberoo Posts: 472
    hahahah the chaps!!!!! Too funny!

    OMG can you imagine going into a SanFran club or restaurant etc. and be given a seat that some guy with assless chaps just left!!! I would want it bleached first!
    Makes much more sense, to live in the present tense.

    A truly liberal person is conservative when necessary.

    Pro-life by choice.
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