Waffle House at Underground charges customers 20% surcharge to pay for security

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The state does not want to spend the money to help these people. They see it as an urban issue.

Well...it is an urban issue. Why bother having a city government if we expect the state to take care of it.

[cqholt]

I see all those positives going northward to Midtown and Buckhead...but I'm not stating anything we don't all already know. Downtown seems stuck for a while and putting in a Casino in Underground will just make it worse.

Downtown stuck? New Falcons Stadium, MMPT, Gulch redevelopment, GSU Law building and student housing, downtown streetcar, etc. Is it going at the pace of Midtown? No, but it is not stuck.

Well...it is an urban issue. Why bother having a city government if we expect the state to take care of it.

No, its a mental health issue. These people need the treatment they deserve and assistance to get them off the streets. Its horrible how Americans treat those with mental health issues, its barbaric!

[ATLTJL]

Yes, it IS an urban issue. What do you want the state to do? Send state troopers? Actually, it's probably a better use of them than writing tickets on the highway.....but they won't do that.

Americans don't treat people with mental issues in a barbaric way. In fact, we might be too far the opposite. It's extremely difficult to commit someone against his will. Even when you do, the person is generally just stabilized and then sent home with meds. When the patient decided to become non-compliant, there is really nothing you can do. You have to wait for that person to commit a crime, get hauled in front of a judge, and sentenced to mental health care. Then the pocess repeats all over again.

The problem is not that we don't have mental health care available. We do, plenty of it. The problem is you can not force people to participate. When you can force them to participate, you can't force them to long term. And to be honest, mental illness not always well understood, so there are certain conditions where the best we can do is sedate people because no effective treatment beyond that is available.

It's true that many of the homeless people are mentally unstable. It's also true that many are not, they are simply addicts. Programs exist for them too, but the same problem exists: They can not be forced to participate, or forced to stay if they are participating. Anybody can sign himself out of treatment any time he wants unless he is court ordered by a judge to be there.

So the assistance that you are talking about would really come in the form of forcing people to receive care. We used to have a system like that, but it ended to save money. I wonder how many billions in revenue it has cost to not have it.

[GeorgiatoChina]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Yes, it IS an urban issue. What do you want the state to do? Send state troopers? Actually, it's probably a better use of them than writing tickets on the highway.....but they won't do that.

Americans don't treat people with mental issues in a barbaric way. In fact, we might be too far the opposite. It's extremely difficult to commit someone against his will. Even when you do, the person is generally just stabilized and then sent home with meds. When the patient decided to become non-compliant, there is really nothing you can do. You have to wait for that person to commit a crime, get hauled in front of a judge, and sentenced to mental health care. Then the pocess repeats all over again.

The problem is not that we don't have mental health care available. We do, plenty of it. The problem is you can not force people to participate. When you can force them to participate, you can't force them to long term. And to be honest, mental illness not always well understood, so there are certain conditions where the best we can do is sedate people because no effective treatment beyond that is available.

It's true that many of the homeless people are mentally unstable. It's also true that many are not, they are simply addicts. Programs exist for them too, but the same problem exists: They can not be forced to participate, or forced to stay if they are participating. Anybody can sign himself out of treatment any time he wants unless he is court ordered by a judge to be there.

So the assistance that you are talking about would really come in the form of forcing people to receive care. We used to have a system like that, but it ended to save money. I wonder how many billions in revenue it has cost to not have it.

Exactly, people have to want help before they can get it. Many of these hobos/homeless don't want help out side of a few dollars for their next fix or drink.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Yes, it IS an urban issue. What do you want the state to do? Send state troopers? Actually, it's probably a better use of them than writing tickets on the highway.....but they won't do that.

Actually that's not unheard of. They had to call in the state troopers when Buckhead gyrated out of control in the early 2000s.

The state of Georgia has a huge interest in urban issues, especially in Atlanta. For one thing it's the state capital. The state owns massive amounts of land downtown and has thousands of office workers there. It has made deep investments in infrastructure and facilities, such as the freeways, Centennial Olympic Park, the Dome and the World Congress Center, Georgia State, the Capitol itself, the Twin Towers and scores of other office buildings. It is presently looking at spending another $300 million on a new stadium just a few blocks away.

So I don't think it is at all unreasonable for the state to put its oar in the water. Why should it tolerate a big pocket of blight smack dab in the middle of the billions it has poured into downtown Atlanta?

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by GeorgiatoChina

Exactly, people have to want help before they can get it. Many of these hobos/homeless don't want help out side of a few dollars for their next fix or drink.

Dude, if you really believe it's that simple...I seriously hope you never, ever have to live on the streets of America.