What is with all the bums lately? (Colorado Springs: house, neighborhoods)

[PokerMunkee]

I'm worth a negative ~$200,000 with my mortgage and cars, so these bums are better off than me with only a few bucks to their name! lol

I agree, give them money and hopefully they leave or get desperate to actually work for a paycheck. I knew a guy that would give them a dollar if they did 3 push ups, he wanted them to work for his $$. hah

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by Bullitt007

I never give cash to a person on the street. Do the research and you'll see where most of that money goes.

I have purchased food several times. The last time was rather humorous...I was approaching a drive-up window when I was approached by someone who asked if I could buy them a sandwich. I said sure and just as I pulled up to order he further clarified...he wanted a #7 with a coke. I laughed and got him what he wanted.

Either way, I have no problem buying food for someone in need, but I'm not going to contribute to their alcohol/drug problem.

Yes. Very true. I was once approached in Washington, D.C. and asked by a bum, "Can you give me some money so I can go buy some beer to sober up with?"

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by PokerMunkee

I'm worth a negative ~$200,000 with my mortgage and cars, so these bums are better off than me with only a few bucks to their name! lol

I agree, give them money and hopefully they leave or get desperate to actually work for a paycheck. I knew a guy that would give them a dollar if they did 3 push ups, he wanted them to work for his $$. hah

Yup. One year back in Virginia I was having some back problems, but needed the fall leaves raked. I remembered often seeing a bum on one particular street corner with a sign, "Will work for money." So I went and talked to him. Fairly easy job, and I offered pretty good money. He wasn't in the least interested in working.

At another street corner near one of the Washington Metro station I saw a bum with a sign that said he was a carpenter whose tools were stolen...please contribute so he could buy new tools to get back to work. Same bum, same sign for over 10 years.

I also saw a homeless person on 14th Street (near Dupont Circle in D.C.) stab another homeless person in the gut with a broken whiskey bottle.

And another time, one ran up to me while I was crossing a street and yelled right in my face, "I'm gonna kill someone!"

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

.... And another time, one ran up to me while I was crossing a street and yelled right in my face, "I'm gonna kill someone!"

Had a co-worker, Sal, back in the DC area. He parked his car along Columbia Pike in Falls Church/Bailey's Crossroads where our Army office was located. He was lugging his "portable" PC to work with him and his hands were full. A local nutjob runs up to him, gives him some sort of karate kick to the chest, knocks Sal down, then apologizes and help him up. Police were called, etc, .....

We give to reputable charities and never give money to street people to further enable whatever is their form of dysfunction.

[lalahartma]

Obviously, many people are on the street because of mental illness. Duh.

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by lalahartma

Obviously, many people are on the street because of mental illness. Duh.

I agree. I'm not sure freedom for mental patients is doing them any favors. They sometimes end up freezing to death in sub-zero temperatures, etc.

But I will tell you one good story. Quite a few years back and I was at a local indoor mall doing some shopping. A fellow came up to me and said because of the sub-zero temps, could I give him $25 for a motel room for the night. I hesitated, but he seemed somehow a little different than the average panhandler...and it was going to be below zero that night. So I gave him the money. What a sucker I was...

...well, not really, because several months later as I was going up the escalator and a fellow going down said, "Oh, it's you. Wait for me at the top." Hmmmmmm. So I waited. I felt safe. Public place with security nearby. It was the guy I gave the $25 to. Paid me back and told me he had just been on hard times temporarily.

[eon-krate32]

I visited the Springs for the first time today (only other time I had been there it was to drive through to New Mexico), and while I really enjoyed the feel of the downtown area I did notice that there was a fairly large number of homeless/bums/(insert your term here), at least compared to places that I'm familiar with. I know that larger cities are going to have something of a larger homeless issue, but it seemed a little...much? I'm glad to see that this apparently isn't normal, because while I had given the downtown area much crap for being small (for a city of over 400,000 in an immediate metro of some 650,000), now that I've actually been there I wish I lived closer because it still had that city center feeling like it's supposed to, which seems to be mostly absent in many of the Northern Colorado cities I frequent (Broomfield, Longmont, Greeley, and to a lesser extent Boulder, Loveland and Fort Collins).

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by wag more bark less

Accosted?! Oh brother. No one gets 'accosted' by homeless in the Springs! Either you're using the strong word intentionally to try to prove your point, or you consider a harmless homeless person asking for spare change as being 'accosted'.

The h*ll you say. The night before Thanksgiving I stopped a street rat who was aggressively demanding money from a pregnant woman in the Home Depot parking lot at Woodmen and Powers. He was right in her face...after dark, and not taking "no" for an answer. He did, however, respond more positively to "leave now or I'll make you leave."

Originally Posted by wag more bark less

I'm not so concerned about policy as I am about the point of view here...I'm bothered by those who look down their nose suspiciously at homeless people, make a hasty judgment about them (you're wearing a nice jacket and asking for change or food, therefore you must be a liar and/or thief) and dispassionately dismiss them as a minor imposition, under the guise of being 'accosted' or throwing out a bogus fact about crime and home values in order to justify your viewpoint-- where I just moved to, Austin, has a high population of homeless and has for awhile. Subsequently, crime is low, and property values have hardly plummeted.

Time after time, I have seen the media follow these people home to a nice house or a nice, late-model car parked down the block from where they're operating their scam. If you're on the street asking me for money, then I get to look down my nose and evaluate whether you're one of the MANY scamming dirtbags, or someone truly in need. Of course if you're truly in need you'll appreciate it when I give you the address of the Salvation Army shelter...if you're just out for some easy money to buy beer or "medical" marijuana, then not so much.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Bob from down south

... The night before Thanksgiving I stopped a street rat who was aggressively demanding money from a pregnant woman in the Home Depot parking lot at Woodmen and Powers. He was right in her face...after dark, and not taking "no" for an answer. He did, however, respond more positively to "leave now or I'll make you leave."...

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Plus one!