I’ve fucking had it with not being able to have nice things because of the homeless. They’re now affecting the holy temple of guydom, Sportsman’s Warehouse.

The parking lot for the store in Anchorage has been a magnate for homeless for years. Go to the drive thru at McDonald’s or Taco Bell there and you’ll more than likely have them panhandling at your window. Go to the restroom or fitting room at Duluth Trading Company which shares the parking lot and not unusual to find hangars and tags on the floor from shoplifting. A few months back I thought it was bad when Sportsman’s moved all of the ammo behind the counter to prevent theft. Major PITA of not being close enough to read the fine print on the box to know what the bullet weight, loading, etc. is.

So go to Sportsman’s last night to pick up a whizmo I Ordered online. Was just coming from happy hour at a local brewery with some former coworkers. The delicious black ale that I had is starting to hit the lower kidneys because after all, you never really own beer you only rent it. I’m thinking restrooms at Sportsman’s are right next to the front door, cool! Walk up to the door of the men’s room and there’s a combination keypad lock on the door.

What in the name of Zeus’s butthole is this bullshit? I’m in danger of having a rusty zipper and a yellow pair of socks since they now have to limit bathroom access because of the homeless using it as a locker room and now I’ve got to go tackle a store employee and get the combination in order to go whiz?

Fucking ridiculous getting cock blocked at the urinal because of bums taking a whore shower in the men’s room.

Preach it, Brother!

In the same vein, I am occasionally labeled as a "heartless Nazi prick" due to my lack of sympathy for those suffering from self-induced problems.

Over the last several years, Mrs. PHPaul has joined me, at least as concerns panhandlers. Her response to "homeless" bozos with cardboard signs in the median: "There are literally a dozen "Help Wanted" signs within walking distance. Get a fucking job."

The worst is when the store doesn’t allow restroom use or only want to give the code when you checkout.

I’ve resorted to carrying 2 midsize Gatorade bottles in my truck door, rinse them later at home. No I don’t throw the bottle out the window full, like some do.

2000Z-
I thought winter would “take care” of that problem. Guess I was wrong.

Sourdough-
Toss the bottle at the homeless.

I never got the memo wherein the words

Bums
Hobos
Drifters
Layabouts
Idlers
Ne'er-do-wells
...

got expelled from the English language and 'homeless' was decreed as the replacement.

Must have been when 'swamp' got replaced by 'wetlands'.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

got expelled from the English language and 'homeless' was decreed as the replacement.

Be patient, man! There's another memo coming, wherein "homeless" gets tossed and "unhoused" gets stuffed in its place.

quote:

I thought winter would “take care” of that problem. Guess I was wrong.

No shit, I am thinking the same. I see why CA has such a bad problem, the great weather. Are they seasonal urban campers?

quote:

Homelessness

Didn't you know the above term is "toxic"? It is now the unhoused and housing insecure and other politically correct bullshit terms.

We don't have homeless people out in the open in my town, but in the past in other towns and cities, my ire was directed towards local govt. leaders who not only allow it, but embraced the conditions that exacerbate the problem.

You nailed this one. And I'm assuming that Anchorage enables them.

When I moved to Jax in 1986 downtown had a vibrant nightlife scene. Both the north and south banks of the river had river walkways and a lot of restaurants, bars, shopping, breweries, and clubs. It was the place to go. There was even water taxis that you could take across and up and down the river and back to your car. I never felt unsafe being the until 3-4 in the morning.

As the homelessness ramped up unchecked, people stopped going downtown because it became dirty and unsafe. Drug use, aggressive panhandling. The night life scene shifted to the beaches. When the homelessness issues followed, the beaches clamped down on it.

Now the riverwalks are in disrepair, the restaurants are gone, the bars have closed and moved. My wife's current office on the south bank is in the old Morton steak house. It sat empty for years before they bought and converted it into a medical office. Downtown has gotten so bad companies are move entire offices from downtown to other parts of Jax because of employed safety. One of the largest companies is talking about moving 1800 ish employees out to the southside area. The mayor's solution? Instead of fixing the root issues, give them 10 million over 10 years to stay. (Yes, shes a dem)

I can’t remember the last time I've been downtown at night. It was probably for a Jaguar's night game and we parked at the stadium.
On the bright side, our Sportsman Warehouse and Duluth Trading Co are a shopping area on the north side of Jax. Probably 15 miles from downtown with no homeless services nearby so homeless issues when I go there.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
I thought winter would “take care” of that problem. Guess I was wrong.

I was a bit surprised to see someone from all the way up AK posting about this. I thought these good-for-nothing lay-abouts tend to stay within the lower 48s, where the sun is warm and so is the "comradeship". I guess they were the locally grown variety.

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:
Fucking ridiculous getting cock blocked at the urinal because of bums taking a whore shower in the men’s room.

or worse - looking for a warm, dry place to shoot up IV drugs and pass out.

When I lived there, my office building was located near where a homeless guy apparently camped out. Frequently, he couldn't walk on a sidewalk let alone a straight line even at 8 AM. One coworker found him having sex with a homeless woman in my coworker's assigned parking spot in the parking garage, they had to put locks on the public bathroom on the ground floor of the office building due to him passing out or trashing it, they had to put locks on the ground floor public bathroom on the ground floor of the building next to ours (it's a shame too as they had a nice Kaladi Bros coffee shop on the ground floor), etc.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
You nailed this one. And I'm assuming that Anchorage enables them.

My Alaskan buddy was telling me how bad it's become since wokeness took over the elected official of Anchorage. Petty crime isn't prosecuted so it exploded.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
I thought winter would “take care” of that problem. Guess I was wrong.

Nope! I was shocked when I visited Anchorage for the first time in summer 2009. I was even more shocked the homeless problem persisted into winter when I moved there a few months later. It actually appears larger in the winter because the vegetation is gone and you can see the homeless encampments more easily.

There is always going to be the self-medicating homeless in any metropolitan area, but Anchorage has problems not seen many places in the US. Alaska is littered with tiny villages not connected to civilization by road, but many have once or twice a week turbo prop flights to Anchorage. Here are a few of the problems that hits Anchorage (i.e. there are more):

Many of the small villages are in dry boroughs (i.e. Alaska's word for county). People from villages got to Anchorage to drink booze not made in a bath tub, and they're outdoorsman so they don't mind camping in a tent. Many are temporarily homeless while partying in Anchorage. Some get lost in the booze/drugs and become long-term homeless in Anchorage.

Many of the small villages have alcohol and drug problems equal to that of Indian reservations in the Lower 48

People dream of life outside the small village and they save up enough money to get to Anchorage. They underestimate the cost, over estimate their ability to become gainfully employed, and end up homeless. Alaska has programs that consist of one-way flights back to their village.

Anchorage does have homeless services and like many places it seems to enable them not help them.

Alaska has an above average drug problem. A 2020 study , puts Alaska at 3.7% of population have illicit drug use problems vs the rest of US have 2.8% illicit drug use problems. Cocaine, meth, heroin, and pain killer abuse all exceed rest of US statistics.

Some of the native Corporations have billion dollar annual revenue (e.g. Arctic Slope Regional Corporation), and by luck of birth any native person born into that "tribe" is automatically a shareholder who receives annual divident payment for their shares. When the shares are paid, the villages empty out and they hit Anchorage, Hawaii, Mexico, etc. A percentage of shareholders can't manage money they didn't earn and use the money to fuel their alcohol and/or drug addictions as homeless.

quote:

Originally posted by Rawny:
I was a bit surprised to see someone from all the way up AK posting about this. I thought these good-for-nothing lay-abouts tend to stay within the lower 48s, where the sun is warm and so is the "comradeship". I guess they were the locally grown variety.

Similar homeless problems also exist in Canada in Calgary and Edmonton.

Here the library (beautiful building) is a hangout for them. This goes on because its tolerated and encouraged. The local "homeless" shelter here is constantly whining for a better facility, more money or other support. Are there people who genuinely need help? Absolutely. But most of our homeless are doped or drugged and care only about the next high.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
2000Z-
I thought winter would “take care” of that problem. Guess I was wrong.

In addition to what tatortodd said there’s a couple more issues unique to Anchorage.

Anchorage is the dumping ground for the rest of the state’s social problems. Act the fool in the village and the village elders will buy you a one way airline ticket to Anchorage.

Availability of medical services. Natives get free healthcare, if the care they need is not available in their village they get flown to Anchorage. It’s not uncommon when they get to Anchorage becoming falling down drunk and missing their flight back to the village. When that happens the usual response is, “We already paid for one ticket, we aren’t paying for another.” And they end up on their own homeless in Anchorage.

Then there’s the issues with all the reality tv shows based in Alaska. I wish I was making this one up but I’m not. They see shows like Deadliest Catch or Gold Rush Alaska and have an idealized vision of what life is like up here and making a shit ton of cash. Then reality hits; it’s bust ass work they aren’t prepared for, it’s expensive living up here, and it requires work to get by. Now they’re stuck here disillusioned and can’t afford to get back. We had a 19 year old in withdrawal whose mother paid for an airline ticket to get back home. We were quoting him for months, crying while screaming out,

“I watched Gold Rush Alaska, I thought living in Alaska would be cool, but it’s not, IT SUCKS!”

The homeless industrial complex is about keeping the homeless on the street and dependent on the orgs that supposedly help. If the homeless get clean and housed there’s no need for the do gooder orgs and the folks pulling six figures a year to run those orgs need to find work. SF went from trying to get folks clean to “harm reduction” and an already sideways situation grew exponentially worse. We need to bring back forced meds and involuntary commitment for those who can’t manage their own care. Letting the mentally ill self medicate in the public commons and destroy it for the rest of us is not compassion. Move the mentally ill i to treatment either forced or not and the focus can be on those down on their luck and wanting to work. The subset of folks living on the street as some kind of rebellion can be held accountable when they break the law.

For years now Portland has been a mecca for the homeless. Like Seattle. The whole area downtown where my office was before I retired and GTFO is a tent city. Other cities deal with their homeless problems by buying the bums one way bus tickets to Portland, where they're welcomed with open arms.

So a few days ago a ran across a story (sorry I don't remember where it was) saying that Portland's mayor is now asking the governments of the two neighboring counties (who have their own homeless problems, though not nearly as bad) to GIVE a total of like $10M to Portland, to build yet more homeless shelters.

Don't really have much of an issue when I'm out of town, but the panhandlers union is pretty strong there.

The one time I went to a Sportsman’s Warehouse was also the closest I have been to pulling a gun on someone. I thought being early would avoid the fent zombies, but I got the unlucky early riser crazy person.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
I never got the memo .... and 'homeless' was decreed as the replacement.

Liberals rebrand societal abominations with neutral labels that people will eventually accept.

"Adultery" became "an affair." "Homosexuality" became "gay." Scumbag addicts and alcoholics living in our streets were despised till the liberal scum named them "homeless."

They urinate on your neck and call it rain. And America takes their word for it.

quote:

Originally posted by Biker_dude:

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
I never got the memo .... and 'homeless' was decreed as the replacement.

Liberals rebrand societal abominations with neutral labels that people will eventually accept.

"Adultery" became "an affair." "Homosexuality" became "gay." Scumbag addicts and alcoholics living in our streets were despised till the liberal scum named them "homeless."

They urinate on your neck and call it rain. And America takes their word for it.

shot now are local liberals are saying calling someone Homeless is an insult and downgrading ..they now say the exceptible term to use , is The Unhoused .. liberals always change the names of things

quote:

Her [Mrs. PHPaul] response to "homeless" bozos with cardboard signs in the median: "There are literally a dozen "Help Wanted" signs within walking distance. Get a fucking job."

This kind of panhandling can pay pretty well. Just saying.