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When I lived in Redding, I called them zombies. I know exactly what you're talking about. And downtown is the worst. They're trying to revitalize it, and there are people sitting in outside dining with those little wrought-iron fences around the tables on the sidewalk, and their view is homeless people wandering around. I've seen them approached aggressively for money and their leftovers in their styrofoam containers as they try to walk to their cars.
Seriously takes the posh edge off an expensive dinner.
Just back from a trip to Boulder area and I was taken aback once again by the sheer number of homeless/itinerant/jobless/drug-addled folks on the streets panhandling, busking, sleeping, smoking pot, etc, etc. I've noticed this same population in SF, LA, Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, Vancouver, and Boulder/Denver. It's like this bizarre decades-long Phish show.
This population is virtually unseen out east. We have our homeless of course. But we have old guard homeless. The western version looks a lot whiter, a lot younger, and, perhaps I'm making a misguided assumption here, but to some degree homeless by choice.
I spoke to some--not at all unintelligent--in Boulder who seem to be treating their 20s as a time for sleeping outside in various urban parks and doing drugs for a few years before starting real life as a barista somewhere. Fine but....what factors make this possible out west but seemingly not a viable option in the east?
Yep. And I vastly prefer it that way. That way I don't have to feel as bad and guilty. I'm very uncomfortable with the fact that when I go to say Chicago, all the homeless are African American men.
Portland and Seattle have extremely low vacancy rates. This means that the homeless visibly hang out in streets and parks rather than squat in abandoned buildings like they do in the declining and somewhat abandoned rust belt cities.
Yep. And I vastly prefer it that way. That way I don't have to feel as bad and guilty. I'm very uncomfortable with the fact that when I go to say Chicago, all the homeless are African American men.
lol Reminds of the time my friend hired a cleaning lady to care for her apartment. "At least she's white. I would feel bad if it was a Mexican lady."
The weather is just too bad back East. Up north the cold is so bad it can freeze people to the sidewalks, down south the humidity is so bad it would make sleeping outside intolerable in the summer months. Out West the heat is dry so very comfortable and the cold is not nearly as bad as back East.
Basically any homeless out East are killed off by the elements a lot faster than out West.
I live in the Atlanta area and there are alot of homeless people here. You can even find some of them in the suburbs. In fact, the suburbs is where the fastest growing rate of homelessness is occurring. One thing I've found is this. In Atlanta proper, I literally was walking over homeless people. In the suburbs, especially the 2nd ring suburbs, the homeless are off in the shadows. In my years at Kennesaw State, I found an encampment in a wooded area. In Atlanta, their out in the open. In the 'burbs, it's more hidden. Humidity will not deter the homeless from going to Atlanta. Many are locals.
If anything, the police are a bigger deterrent for vagrants than the weather.
Yep. And I vastly prefer it that way. That way I don't have to feel as bad and guilty. I'm very uncomfortable with the fact that when I go to say Chicago, all the homeless are African American men.
In the Atlanta area, most of the homeless are Black men. Ironic considering Atlanta is touted as "Black Mecca of America".
In the Atlanta area, most of the homeless are Black men. Ironic considering Atlanta is touted as "Black Mecca of America".
Yes, but blacks span across all social classes, including the very wealthy, in Atlanta. So having a ton of black homeless isn't going to affect the image of other blacks, as it would in some cities further north, where blacks are lower in population AND overwhelmingly poor or homeless.
St. Petersburg, Florida averages roughly one homeless person sent to Portland each year.
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