Has there been an increase in squeegee guys lately? (Austin: attorney, home)

[DashRiprock]

I've been noticing more squeegee guys at intersections in north Austin lately, and they seem to be getting more aggressive. I've particularly noticed them along the 183 feeder road intersections between Lamar and Burnet, but I've seen them at other corners as well. Is this happening city wide or just in my part of town?

Can anything be done about it? It's one thing to panhandle but quite another to jump out in the lane and start wiping down people's windshields while they're held hostage at a red light.

[Trainwreck20]

I have never seen one in SW Austin and/or on my way into town.

[ashbeeigh]

I think that's a north Austin/downtown thing. I don't see that in south Austin at all, either. When I was up in north Austin more often I saw them at Lamar and 183 but rarely at Burnet. That sounds new to me, but I know they sleep under 183 in that area, too.

[ScoPro]

I’d tell them in no uncertain terms, “Do not touch my car, thank you”.

[Snowpacked]

This would likely be resolved if there was ample funding for the mentally ill. Dumping them on the streets resulted in this behavior.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by Snowpacked

This would likely be resolved if there was ample funding for the mentally ill. Dumping them on the streets resulted in this behavior.

I did some research on why the mentally ill were dumped on the streets starting in the 1960s & ‘70s. The first state to do so was at the behest of the California association of psychiatrists. They convinced the ignorant & gullible politicians that they could control their patients behavior with the new “miracle drugs” rather than forcibly institutionalizing them. Of course said politicos were all too willing to acquiesce to the learned eggheads and downsize their expensive state institutions.

However, I doubt that a majority of the homeless are really mentally ill. Many are on the streets because of their own poor choices concerning education & drugs when they were in their teens & twenties.

Plus it is a fact that a lot of the beggars are not really homeless. But it would be tough job to separate & help the truly mentally ill and destitute from the bum scammers & beggars.

[eirenecat]

My husband is a criminal defense attorney and has done pro bono work with the homeless population. Many of them are self-medicating with drugs and alcohol because of stress, abuse, depression, and mental illness that they had to begin with, and then the drug and alcohol abuse accelerates the loss of a job or a home and it becomes a kind of a self-defeating, circular hell to be in.

Homelessness, danger, and food insecurity certainly does not improve their mental health, if it was good to begin with.

[ikoolu]

what a crock drug and alcohol abuse is a life choice - they use it that excuse because its hard to get off your butt at 5 in the morning - get dressed and go to work.

i have no sympathy for them - there are a few with mental health problems but i am guessing those too were composed by the use to drugs and alcohol -

there are job all over the place - dont make excuses for these lazy doppers - dont buy into the boo hoo hoo poor me crap -if you want metal heat care and homeless housing then step up and say you are for major increases in taxes and fees - cause it is going to cost a hell of alot on money

[BJB817]

Tell me more about "metal heat care".

[Jimmyp25]

Theres entire refugee camps under every bridge from Pflugerville-all the way north.... starting to look like LA