City: Plan to crack down on homeless camps not related to Super Bowl

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

synchronicity i guesss, that this came up, because i just had a related experience.

i just went to the majestic diner tonight with my dad, we saw a homeless person outside from belize who was shivering, but didn't know what to do since we didn't have any cash money or clothes or anything to give.

we were afraid and didn't make the right choice, we should have just brought him in with us first thing. once we got in we changed our minds and decided to order him a coffee and invite him inside and get him a meal, but the waiter told us that the owner prohibits anyone who is homeless from coming in. i asked "even if he's with us and we buy him a meal?" and the waiter said "yes." i ordered a coffee to go along with our drinks and me and dad went outside to give it to him, but he had left already.

i was pretty pissed off. that's not even constitutional, to refuse service to someone who doesn't own property, this is something america outlawed in the 1800s. we thought about leaving but since we had already ordered food with our drinks, we stayed and ate anyway. $36 for two. and we paid the price for giving them our money, too. my dad got sick on the way home and is still sick as i type this.

i'm ashamed that i didn't help in time, and ashamed we paid money to a place that would refuse service to someone who has already had everything taken from them. we have truly become a wicked people and we're all going to have to account for it.

If you were really upset you would had left.

[joey86]

Originally Posted by citidata18

3. How did you know this person was from Belize if you didn't actually interact with them (not that their location should even matter)?

Where does it say that they didn’t interact with them?

Originally Posted by cqholt

If you were really upset you would had left.

That’s not for you to decide.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by joey86

Where does it say that they didn’t interact with them?

That's my mistake there. I missed the part where they said they brought him a to-go cup of coffee.

Still, I don't know what them being from Belize has to do with anything. They're notl better or worse than any other homeless person.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

City Hall has turned lying into an art form. Thing is, they're lousy artists.

Does anyone else remember the hordes of homeless that were shipped out of the city in buses just prior to the Olympics?

Sports | Olympics -- Atlanta `Cleanup' Includes One-Way Tickets For Homeless | Seattle Times Newspaper

All cities do that before the Olympics and in my near 25 years living in the city have had countless homeless people come up to me and ask for money for a bus ticket. Not sure what the big deal is. The less homeless people we have here the better.

[atlHawks]

Someone setup camp on 17th Street near Bishop Street. It looks terrible. I’m surprised it’s still there.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by citidata18

2. People have been burned so many times before when trying to help those who are less fortunate that they become extremely hesitant to do so in the future. It doesn't make them wicked, no more than it makes a company wicked for trying to make a profit.

this is why we went past him as we went in, i have been grabbed before. it doesn't make it right, though. the truth is that we walked by a man in the cold and ignored him because of what some unrelated person did, and we let fear control our reaction. if you are jewish, christian, or muslim the religious texts don't mince any words about this being a sin.

Originally Posted by citidata18

3. How did you know this person was from Belize if you didn't actually interact with them (not that their location should even matter)?

that's what he said as we were going in, so that's the only thing i knew about him. nationality isn't relevant to whether someone deserves food or shelter, i agree.

Originally Posted by cqholt

If you were really upset you would had left.

we should have. the universe threw a test my way and i failed it completely.

[Need4Camaro]

Here in Austin I find the homeless situation surprisingly to be much worse than Atlanta. The problem extends WELL into the suburbs, people living under overpasses with their belongings pretty much furnished under the freeway and doing their personal business infront of traffic.

Still I feel empathy for them. I don't enjoy judging people who are less fortunate regardless of the reason of their fall out. I can't help but wonder what brought them to their circumstances, whether it was irresponsibility or plain bad luck...but lets face it... any one of us can find ourselves in that position with enough bad luck....and for some all it will take is losing a job, then everything else goes with it.

Alittle story, while I was in Gwinnett, I was in a parking lot once and a lady was calling out to me. Normally, I do not acknowledge strangers and thats exactly what happened in this case. Well, later on I walked into the building and accidently ran into the same lady and she asked me what kind of car I was driving (It was a 3.6L Camaro V6 Red in color at that time) so I told her and it eventually lead to a conversation. Turns out this lady was down and out and living in her car. She used to work as a Human Resources Manager for AT&T and was laid off after which she lost her home and her belongings were in a locker on the other side of town which she had no means of paying for. She wasn't... necessarily under a bridge, no.. ..but it goes to state that not everyone who is homeless is a triflin bum, there are honest and hard working people out there who have hit misfortune too.

On the flip side however... I have the most irresponsible nephew. The dude refused to get a job, or when he did, he'd get fired two weeks later, always partied and hung out with his friends in Atlanta, ended up getting something put in his drink and he was never right from that day forward. He went manic and caused all kinds of hell. My mother felt super empathetic for him and practically catered to him, which only made him more spoiled and self centered and when he didn't get his way he would pretty much disregard you. So he had a choice between moving home back with my sister who was willing to put up with him as long as he got a job, or moving to Los Angeles with his friends and starting his own life, with absolutely no career experience or work history.. ..he moved to LA ... his friends lease expired... he can't get a job... he's now homeless and living on the streets using the buses and trains for shelter. Sooooo those types are also out there.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by atlHawks

Someone setup camp on 17th Street near Bishop Street. It looks terrible. I’m surprised it’s still there.

That’s been there since November.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by ronricks

All cities do that before the Olympics and in my near 25 years living in the city have had countless homeless people come up to me and ask for money for a bus ticket. Not sure what the big deal is. The less homeless people we have here the better.

My point was not the act itself, but the lame attempt to spin this as business as usual and having nothing to do with the influx of visitors to a major media event. Please.
This is typical of city leadership. They don't care if the citizens live with the day-to-day problems, but if the cameras are on, they go into subterfuge mode and start applying band-aids everywhere.
Don't worry; on 2/4/2019, everything will return to 'normal'.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

we should have. the universe threw a test my way and i failed it completely.

It doesn't matter. On this forum you would have been criticized for whatever action you had taken that day.