Get ready for Cryme Tyme: the City of South Fulton passes the “Ban the Box” ordinance which no longer makes job applicants have to disclose if they have a criminal background
Shortly after New Years, I hit a freshly formed pothole, and blew a flat. I was not pleased about it, since ultimately it’s an incident that nobody is really held accountable for, and I was out $500 in order to replace all my tires, since they were pretty much due for a change. Regardless, I went on the internet and tracked down the protocol for reporting the pothole to the county, and within two days, I got a message stating that the pothole was resolved. I drive on this stretch of road regularly, and I can confirm that it was patched pretty immediately.
I’ve stated that I’m still on my old neighborhood’s Nextdoor, since I can’t bring myself to walk away from the source of unintentional trainwreck entertainment, especially since it’s a subscription that not just anyone can get access to unless they live (or lived) there. One issue that has been fairly persistent in my old hood (aside from theft, vandalism, celebratory gunfire, ordinary gunfire, bodies being found in the trunks of abandoned cars outside of Publix), is potholes.
They’ve been so problematic, it’s gotten to the point where it’s even been on the local news, with hopes that public exposure will shame GDOT into fixing it immediately, to which I’m not actually sure if it’s worked this time, because this tactic has been employed so many times. Otherwise, this is an issue for the City of South Fulton, because its within their jurisdiction and they’re responsible for the infrastructure of themselves.
Needless to say, the response has not been swift, probably not been addressed, and I’ve seen numerous threads about all the cars that have fallen victim to the same potholes. Sure, maybe they all shouldn’t be on 22” low-profile wheels more susceptible to blowing out on potholes, but that’s another story, but frankly people shouldn’t expect their tax-paid roads to be completely pocked with deep and detrimental potholes in the first place.
The point of all this introduction is that if people thought living in the City of South Fulton was bad before, imagine what it’s going to be like when anyone who ever wants to work for the city, will no longer have to disclose any criminal offenses they’ve had on their records?
Frankly, I do understand why this is perceived as a step in the right direction; ultimately, the whole box check of “do you have any criminal background” on any job application is often times met with immediate disqualification, because most companies/agencies don’t want to hire anyone who’s done anything bad on record, despite the fact that it’s really meant to be something to discussed and deliberated upon.
But removing it outright in my opinion, kind of opens the doors for people who have actual severe criminal pasts, to be able to slip into the general population of job applicants, and that’s something that I don’t feel that actual criminals have earned the right to have. Like, an idiot who has gotten a DUI or gotten a trespassing citation on them because they wandered into the wrong place; they absolutely should be able to state their case. But a perp with a larceny, theft, or worse off, a sexual assault mark on their record now no longer has to disclose that? Yeah no, I don’t agree with that, and given the populous of South Fulton, the door is wide open for perps to get jobs that frankly should first be available to non-criminals far before them.
There’s also an implication that South Fulton doesn’t have enough people without criminal records, to where this ordinance needed to be put in place; sure, it certainly felt that way in the tail end of the years that I lived down there, but at the same time, I know there were also plenty of talented and qualified workers available. Granted, they all were like me and probably worked in the city of Atlanta, and not South Fulton, but still, there are plenty of jobs out there for people without criminal pasts to be able to get.
At the end of the day, it’s no water off my back; I don’t fuckin live down there anymore. But it’s still certainly easy for me to stand on my pedestal and cast judgment on them, because I lived there for 13 years under the delusion that there was a future, and that hope actually existed there. I was one of the fortunate people to have gotten out when I did, but for those who weren’t so lucky, all I can really do is criticize on the internet the things they do, and wish those who deserve it, the best of thoughts and prayers to get the fuck out of there.
