MACON, Ga. — Macon Mayor Lester Miller wants to extend the moratorium on new pawn shops in Macon.
According to a proposed resolution set to be discussed in the commission's Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, Miller writes there's too many of these stores.
Miller argues some of these pawn shops are leading to "violence, poverty, blight and decreased property values" in some neighborhoods, according to the proposal.
In January, Macon-Bibb County commissioners voted to approve moratoriums on pawn shops as well as liquor stores in a unanimous decision.
"If I get off on an exit somewhere and I'm driving through, out of town, and I see a bunch of that, I know I'm in a bad area. I say bad area loosely. Nothing against the people that live there, but I know it's an area a lot of focus has not been put on for good businesses," Miller said in January.
The original ban of new pawn shops started February 22 but expired Saturday, according to the proposed resolution. The resolution approved in January lasted 6 months, or 180 days.
If this new extension passes, it will last another nine months, or 273 days. He says that will give the administration more time to look at data surrounding the impact of pawn shops.
"With the liquor store one, we put no more allowed. Pawn shop is one of those things where we're looking to make some revisions to... Seeing if there's any issues that we have. Make sure we have processes in place to track down stolen items, crimes, things of that nature. We haven't finalized those yet over the last several months, so we're extending it for nine months," Miller said.
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