Detroit city council member proposing to ban cashless businesses
(CBS DETROIT) - A trip to the market is leading Detroit city council member Angela Whitfield-Calloway to propose a new ordinance.
She says her experience at checkout left her confused when she pulled out her cash for a purchase, but her money wasn't accepted.
"Your form of payment, we don't accept it," Whitfield-Calloway said. "That group of people is not going to be able to support your service or support your business. I was in that group."
Whitfield-Calloway says she's drafting her first ordinance after her visit to Plum Market for lunch left a bad taste.
"I get my salad, I get my soup, I'm in line and I'm trying to find a place to pay, and I'm looking for a cashier and then I guess someone behind me told me that they don't accept cash," Whitfield-Calloway said.
"And I said, 'They don't accept cash?' Because that was the first time that I had ever heard of a cashless business."
The District 2 representative is taking her concerns to council chambers to ban businesses from cashless transactions.
"Then we started doing a little bit of research, and I think it was San Francisco, D.C., Philadelphia, New Jersey, they tried going cashless and then they reversed it," the councilmember said.
Downtown venues also picked up the practice during the pandemic to slow the spread of the virus.
But Whitfield- Calloway says we're now in recovery and customers should have more options for payment.
"And what about all the folks who don't have a banking account who don't have access to get a credit card, who don't even have you know a decent credit history," she said.
Whitfield-Calloway told CBS News Detroit that businesses need to be inclusive in their practices.
"The homeless, the panhandlers, you give somebody three dollars, what are they going to do?" she said.
"They're going to walk across the street to the party store or walk across the street to like a McDonalds, fast food. They're going to have three or four dollars in their hands to buy a drink and a burger. What about the young people? They're not going to be able to transact business. What about seniors?"
The ordinance is currently being reviewed by the city's legal department.
The proposal will then go before the public for a hearing ahead of a final vote.
