The bum's bill of rights (San Francisco, Oakland: apartments, credit, home)

[TrueTimbers]

Originally Posted by Kafkaesque

Why I am sorry that you have to put on your hazmat suit to deal with homeless on the beat
I am gladdened that you acknowledge the threat of disease and spending at the hospitals
as I indicated in my prior post. I think that bathrooms will be a small step towards helping
combat those issues without breaking the bank.
As a free country I do not know what to do about people that actively want to be homeless
and we rely on police officers such as yourself to arrest them when they commit crimes.
As for spending the money wisely to deal with the problem, I am in favor of proactive pursuits
more so than reactive. But we do have a homeless population that exists now that needs
to be taken care of, as we balance other spending priorities. To much to do with limited funds.

Spectacular! well stated..

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[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by pch1013

And yet the fact that San Francisco spends $200M a year on homeless services, and there has been no appreciable dent in the problem, suggests that the funds aren't being spent in the best possible way...

Think about it pch. How would you know that "no appreciable dent in the problem" has been made?

If you want to know what the "dent" made by $200 million is -- all you have to do is understand what things would be like if $200 million hadn't been spent. To do that -- understand, that is -- you need to educate yourself on homelessness and services for that problem. Easy to learn about in this internet age. Google is your friend.

Bottom line: if you think it's bad as is, you would definitely not like it if that $200 million hadn't been there.

[Ruth4Truth]

The last time I was in San Fran, which was during Gavin Newsome's mayoralty, the homeless were gone from the streets downtown. I couldn't believe it! No homeless around Union Square, or anywhere, at least during the day. To say a dent hasn't been made in the problem simply isn't accurate. maybe the situation's changed since then, but the point is, that somehow he managed to deal effectively with the situation to a significant degree. So it's doable. If it's been done once, it can be done again.

Does anyone know how he pulled that off, btw? I've been curious about that. It was quite a feat.

[JGC97]

After seeing this story on the news just moments ago, I had to come here to find out what the CD peeps were saying. As usual, a lot of fighting and name calling. So what else is new?

I still don't quite get why the homeless need a Bill of Rights. Aren't they citizens just like the rest of us? Don't we already have a Bill of Rights? Why do the homeless need their own special set of rules?

Someone posted earlier (can't recall who) that they don't steal from merchants but some of them most certainly do. I set many court dates for misdemeanor crimes of theft by transients. Easy to spot when their current address read, "none."

This Bill is just another absurdity coming out of the State Capitol. I'll bet none of the Assembly members live in neighborhoods where they see the sort of things that go on. It's pretty easy for them to pass legislature for things that won't have any impact on them, personally.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

I sort of agree with part of this. There are other alternatives to sitting on sidewalks and laying on benches. Good luck getting counties to meet requirements like these when, as mentioned most counties are broke.

There is also a lot of hypocrisy with the state requiring counties and cities to provide all these services, yet every time there is a recession, the first thing the state does is raid city & county budgets. Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter...it happens every time, most recently with Gov. Brown obliterating the redevelopment agencies.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by pch1013

This bill does nothing to solve any crisis. It's the equivalent of giving an injured person heroin instead of operating on him. It makes his life more pleasant while failing to address the root cause.

The root cause for many of the hard core homeless is childhood trauma. I'm talking hard core childhood physical/sexual abuse here (also often accompanied by parental drug/alcohol abuse). Other than locking them up or putting them in strict environments where they're under strict supervision, I'm not convinced anyone knows how to heal the underlying trauma, although it can be managed somewhat.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

People have this insane idea in their heads that if tax money is used on anything remotely humanitarian that somehow their money is being wasted. Anything that benefits people and therefore society (homeless assistance, medical care, housing assistance, transportation etc.) are things that people get really loud about in opposition. If that same money is spent to kill people in other countries, no one bats an eye. And we wonder why our society is in decay.

I think plenty of people have batted their eyes at war spending in recent years. But we must not be blind to the fact that many of the so called humanitarian programs in the U.S. are not efficient or effective. Publicly funded medical care is practically exhibit A for this...costs have been rising far above the rate of inflation for decades, but since people don't get a line item bill for it, the cost is hidden. (not that private health care is any better...because it's set up as a private monopoly instead of a public one...but monopolies are monopolies).

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Ghostly1

Perhaps it's time to let it go.

Um, no. I think asking what they heck SF is doing with $200M for the homeless (if that's an accurate figure) is a completely fair question and I get mad when some people refuse to answer it and insist on just spending more money.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Interesting jim. Except I didn't read Gentoo saying only people who have been homeless can understand and solve it.

Um, yeah. I think he was...He has a point...but he was also using it as a trump card to invalidate an opinion that's different from his.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by TrueTimbers

There, society takes responsibility and action... Which in turn makes the standard and quality of life go up for everyone...

Society, indeed. I'm willing to be people in those "socialist" societies don't put up with the BS behavior that we tolerate in America. Liberal socialists in the Nordic countries still demand basic standards of behavior. In America, the far left liberals have an "anything goes" attitude and demonize anyone who doesn't go along.