Come on up to Freeattle! We’re busy reinventing homelessness and making sure our homeless have the proper salary band so their not underpaid. Want to play the victim and life’s unfair cards? Come on up! Need a needle, doobie, meth or heroin after a hard day of stealing or doing nothing?Come on up! Want to basically own downtown and city council, come on up! Running out of tax free freeway off ramps to jack money off guilt ridden millennials, come on up! We’re the Cal Worthington of Homeless cities!

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:...Not surprising that the homeless tend to migrate to where they are welcomed and given free reign to squat wherever they want.

Might you be referring to San Francisco? I saw a recent article, with before and after pics, where they have cleaned up a street once filled with homeless encampments. But I wonder if they just moved to the next street over.

When I lived in Tempe they were all over.....now that I am home.....nope, plenty of illegals but no walking dead

I can only imagine how loud the yentas that drive their golf carts to pick up their kids at school would scream if they even thought they saw a homeless person

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:....My employer's HQ is just north of SF. I used to like to go downtown for dinner. No more. If it isn't the creeps, it's the feces they leave all over. Ugh.

I understand SF has poop maps. There is probably an app you can download for your I-thingey that updates the poop map a couple of times a day.

I have seen conflicting reports re the causes of homelessness. Some say the dominant factor is mental health, and to solve the homelessness you have to first heal the mind. Other "studies" say the dominant factor is economics, and if you give them enough resources (money), all will be well. Still others say it is choice, some people prefer to live that way.

Wow, we don't have it here. At all. Used to be, the area north of the floodwall was packed with them. Now they're gone and a walking path replaced them. Right down the road there was a thing called a hobo jungle. Gone. My wife does her best to help them working at a free store on weekends. During the week she puts in a half day at the local free clinic. I have no idea how those still exist with Obamacare, but there they are. Its recently expanded to include dental care, too. But I don't see them.

Might be I don't really open my eyes till the crack of noon. But they're just not around here. They used to be, but no longer. About 10 or so years ago we cleaned up the riverbank. It was down the road and our goal was to cut enough underbrush so as we drove out of the floodwall, all we'd see is brush. So another neighbor and I got our chainsaws out and began cutting. Soon we started finding all the attire my wife and her minions had handed out with a smile. Too nasty to touch, but a pitchfork served to hoist it into trash bags. In some places it was over a foot thick. Guess clean wasn't enticing to that lifestyle. Anyway, they're gone and its a good thing.

In the city I don't see them. The liquor stores used to have them visiting or clustered there, but not recently. Part of it is them dropping the low price brands. They used to drink vodka or cheap wine. I have no idea where they get it these days, but not around here.

I do see some at a drop in center down by the chicken place. But only around 7 or so that's the opening time. We take drive thru and head up to the river where they aren't seen (at least by us).

Yes we encourage it here in Eugene, camps all over the city down by the river any place they can find a spot. we also have clean up crews who go around and chase them from the nice neighbor hoods. beggars on every street corner.

It's really bad here. They even come into the neighborhood on garbage collection day to dumpster dive though the recycle bins.

Just today while driving to work, one of the vacant homes at the end of the street had a shopping cart "parked" in the doorway.

Yes

yES, its bad and only getting worse.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by Steyn:
Not in my neck of the woods (Alberta). But it’s -30C for several months, so I guess that helps diminishing the numbers.

Calgary and Edmonton both have a homeless problem because of government enablers. IME, the supermajority of homeless were First Nations.

I lived in Calgary 2 years and Stephen Ave was a PITA due to them all 4 seasons. I went to the McD’s 3x and twice the paddy wagon showed up and the third time I wish they would’ve shown up (McD’s closed and it was just me and this ginormous, aggressive panhandler).

Last summer, I had a homeless guy throw 2 cell phones at me while I was in a business trip to Edmonton. Later that day, my boss had a homeless woman jump on his back and scream in his ear.

Not saying that there aren’t homeless people in Edmonchuck, just that the numbers are not increasing noticeably. Most of them are concentrated downtown, where the social services agencies are. In 90% of the city, there are 0 homeless folks.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Tent cities in the winter, inebriated homeless passed out on sidewalks in winter, panhandling, etc.

Bumcicles.

Here in South Florida we too have an increasing homeless population and most of them are drug addicts. We seem to have a rehab clinic or halfway house every 1/2 mile. 3 out of 4 people that go to the rehab clinics are from out of state. 90% of them, get back on drugs before they finish the rehab and stop going, and they never make it back home to whatever state they came from.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:...Not surprising that the homeless tend to migrate to where they are welcomed and given free reign to squat wherever they want.

Might you be referring to San Francisco? I saw a recent article, with before and after pics, where they have cleaned up a street once filled with homeless encampments. But I wonder if they just moved to the next street over.

They just moved them. Take a look at the busiest BART station in San Francisco:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.c...o-civic-center-bart/

It's bad in PDX. I'd see lots of camps along the river front when on my Noon time walk, when I had a job. They just move the camps around every so often.

Went in very early in to PDX after getting laid off. Took my camera to take photos and got some shots of the houseless with some nice tents. Sort of dangerous, not carrying either, but depression does weird things to you.

Houseless problem is starting to spill in to the burbs out here a bit. Found out that we have a couple of houseless folks about 1/2 mile east of me on Farmington Road, Aloha OR. I live close to a forested park, so I hope they do not decide to open up camp there.

How to solve it? Some are houseless due to bad circumstances and most due to their own fault (at least in large part). Some, with a 'helping' hand would become productive members of society, again. Others, well, the final solution is a bad one, unless of course you implement it - it's a perspective thing as history has shown me.

Note I use the word houseless, not homeless. George Carlin addressed it years ago in a skit of his. He is right. Homeless is a state of mind. These people need housing which is physical.

Are there solutions? Sure, but with no profit in it, private industry certainly will not address the problem. I think Carlin was right there too.

I guess it is just life. Life's a bitch (for most of us) and then you die (all of us).

Now to play Ham radio and cheer myself up. CQ DX.

Tweakerville USA. Smith Ave under I-5 in Everett:



"You know, I've seen a lot of people walkin' 'round
With tombstones in their eyes
But the pusher don't care
Ah, if you live or if you die"
-Steppenwolf "The Pusher"

Smith Ave is featured on "Tweakerville Live Cam"(it won't embed, but here's the link):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGwNIbNtRi4

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:...Not surprising that the homeless tend to migrate to where they are welcomed and given free reign to squat wherever they want.

Might you be referring to San Francisco? I saw a recent article, with before and after pics, where they have cleaned up a street once filled with homeless encampments. But I wonder if they just moved to the next street over.

They just moved them. Take a look at the busiest BART station in San Francisco:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.c...o-civic-center-bart/

I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

The liberal culture is the root of the problem. But too many refuse to connect the root with the results.

You get more of what you subsidize.