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Well last month the family took a trip to Boise to do the orientation at BSU for my daughter who enrolls this fall. I found Boise to be a clean and nice city, saw only 3 homeless on the Sat and Sunday my family and I walked around town. Coming from Honolulu the homeless have taken over the parks and the beaches, it was so pleasant to see that there were no tents, tarps and sleeping bags strewn throughout the parks with litter all around.
Now the question I want to ask is, Was I lucky? or are the homless population so small you don't see them? and if they do exist, were would the congregate, thanks.
Boise does not have a large homeless population at all. Most homeless people are found in cities that have mild climates and with more liberal politics where they can survive better.
Boise does not have a large homeless population at all. Most homeless people are found in cities that have mild climates and with more liberal politics where they can survive better.
In other words...they mainly head over to Portland.
I remember reading a story in the statesman about how the cops have been strictly enforcing a law that says you can't camp on public land within city limits. So the homeless stick to the shelters, or lay low to avoid being hassled.
I'm not sure what Boise's homeless is in comparison to other places (I know it's not as bad as Seattle, Portland, SF, or LA - but then again, Boise is half or a quarter of the size of these places), but it's fairly sizable.
They don't hang around downtown as much as they used to, but there are always panhandlers around to be seen, especially around Walmart, Winco, the Connector exits, and the skate parks.
Most of them congregate near the greenbelt or skate park, and they're particularly bad around 15th and River, where the Sanctuary is. I drive by there every day, and I'd say the population has doubled in the past year, and I know the Sanctuary is overfull every night.
If I had to guess - and this is just a guess - I'd say there over a hundred homeless people here, and probably close to double that.
I'm not sure I've ever seen cops hassle a homeless person unless they've obviously been drinking. In fact, I've seen cops walk or ride right past them on the greenbelt and on 8th St.
This is important: tell your daughter to always have company on the Greenbelt near the university, especially at night. There's usually a rape or two there a year, and usually it's a transient to blame. Ask Boise State for the stats if you're really concerned - they publish them.
You guys should pass stricter laws like we do here in TExass!
Chase those homeless (even the ones born in Idaho) out of your beautiful state while you cam. Chase them to to Oregon and let those pansies pay for the cost.
That'll teach 'em to treat the homeless like people.
Pffft.
I'm not sure I've ever seen cops hassle a homeless person unless they've obviously been drinking. In fact, I've seen cops walk or ride right past them on the greenbelt and on 8th St.
Right, it's not illegal to be homeless in a park, it's only illegal to sleep while homeless in a park, because that would be "camping". So you probably haven't seen anyone get hassled on the greenbelt during daylight hours... they wait until they go to sleep to do that.
The homeless here are not that obvious unless you are near the Corpus Christi House which is a day shelter, or the city shelter on 13th. You might see a few here and there scattered around but mainly you will see a few people holding signs at parking lots to grocery stores or at a few street intersections. Rumor is that there is a van that distributes these people around town to beg and then they are picked up in the evening. This happens in other cities and I really think it takes place here too. It is almost like some homeless/beggars have a pimp. Then there is the couple who has wheelchairs and sits in certain areas around downtown trying to gain pity, but the funny thing is that they can walk pretty fast while pushing their wheelchairs to the spot they choose to camp for the day. It has been said that Salt Lake City, which has a huuuuuuuge, homeless population in their city and downtown and Temple Square area, will give some homeless one way bus tickets to Boise and other cities so that they don't have so many to deal with.
There aren't too many homeless, but more are coming. The cops have been cracking down on panhandling and arresting them for just about anything. I think it is pointless to arrest them, they can't pay there fines, and why would they show up to court. I'd rather them sitting around a park than sitting in jail for an open container ticket while I'm paying their rent. The SW corner of Ann Morrison Park is a pretty big bum hang out. If you watch the arrests at the sheriff's website you'll see the same guys over and over again for charges like loitering, open container, public intoxication etc. Waste of honest tax money in my opinion.
Also, the bums around here don't seem too crazy. In San Fran or LA, you tend to see the reall crazy types. Here they pretty much just laze around, some even play disc golf all day, haha. I think that's the difference between crack addict homeless and our more sane alcoholic homeless. No science behind that opinion, just an observation.
Last edited by jufrbo; 07-15-2010 at 03:08 PM..
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