Merchants fed up with homeless at Suburban Station (Philadelphia, Norristown: 2013, buy)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

The big problem with Philly's Suburban and (let's not forget) Jefferson stations is that the they get much quieter outside of rush hour. I DESPISE traveling through either station when it's quiet. The stations are overtaken by the homeless in those hours and it feels uncomfortable; and I'm a healthy strong man. I can only imagine how it feels for a woman, children and the elderly.

Regarding the merchants; I can't believe they did not know it was going to be an issue. This problem is not new, and while it might be getting worse, Philly leadership is not equipped to deal with it in a direct, honest way.

And when people are urinating or defecating, I'd think that would be enough to kick people out. The problem is that there are not enough police down there. That's not unusual for Philly though.

While it's not in the city 69th St Terminal has had a homeless problem for years. It's not like what you all are describing with these posts but it's bad enough.

There is a designated permanent Septa cop outpost right in the Suburban Station. It's new.

Here's my guess. None of the younger folks posting here have any inclinations about joining any police force anywhere and don't have friends who would either. Yet these are the same people complaining about the lack of cops. Where do we recruit them from?

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

The big problem with Philly's Suburban and (let's not forget) Jefferson stations is that the they get much quieter outside of rush hour. I DESPISE traveling through either station when it's quiet. The stations are overtaken by the homeless in those hours and it feels uncomfortable; and I'm a healthy strong man. I can only imagine how it feels for a woman, children and the elderly.

Regarding the merchants; I can't believe they did not know it was going to be an issue. This problem is not new, and while it might be getting worse, Philly leadership is not equipped to deal with it in a direct, honest way.

And when people are urinating or defecating, I'd think that would be enough to kick people out. The problem is that there are not enough police down there. That's not unusual for Philly though.

And when the police did actually do that a few months back, the "progressives" (sarcasm) of Philadelphia felt the need to pull out their phones to record the incident and banish the act via social media.... That is something that drives me nuts and its seems to happen more in Philadelphia, like that Starbucks incident a year ago... its still in the papers, like move on people.

It stinks because Kenney and the city are eventually going to have to say enough is enough and essentially ignore the uproar it will cause from the "progressives" throughout the city, and I say this as a generally liberal person.

Unless some new officials enter office this year, the city won't wake up until an innocent pedestrian is either severely attacked or unfortunately killed by someone down there... The stabbing and killing between homeless people at Broad and Spruce wasn't enough to get the city going...

[kyb01]

Hub of Hope facility in the concourse below Suburban Station is a new 11, 000 sq ft homeless care facility which provides coffee, showers, a laundry room and meals on weekends. It also has a health clinic, medical and behavioral health professionals. It's managed by Project Home and was partially funded by the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Patmcpsu

New York Decided To End Street Homelessness, And It Basically Succeeded

This can be accomplished by Philadelphia's (overwhelmingly Democratic) local government, but I'm sure they'll blame their inaction on "a lack of resources". To be fair, state funding would help, but at the same time, the city currently has the resources but chooses to spend them elsewhere.

EDIT: I stumbled on this this old powerpoint about the Philadelphia budget (2011). Page 10 shows that ~15% of the city's general fund is from the state, and ~4% from federal government. I'm not saying that it's too high or too low, but it's the first time I ever saw a hard-number on this.

EDIT #2: And here's New York City's for reference. 16.7% from the state and 9.3% from federal.

EDIT #3: Page 13 of the 2019 Philadelphia Budget shows a different picture. 5% of revenue from the state and 1% from federal.

You might want to look at the Project Home site too.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by kyb01

While it's not in the city 69th St Terminal has had a homeless problem for years. It's not like what you all are describing with these posts but it's bad enough.

There is a designated permanent Septa cop outpost right in the Suburban Station. It's new.

Here's my guess. None of the younger folks posting here have any inclinations about joining any police force anywhere and don't have friends who would either. Yet these are the same people complaining about the lack of cops. Where do we recruit them from?

The permanent cop station is a nice addition. At least you can go there if you have an issue, whereas before you had no place to go if you needed help.

I would think Philly would recruit from the enormous number of post-soldiers, criminal justice grads, and other sources that are out there. Although it's hard to be a cop nowadays, so maybe that's slowing the roll.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by cpomp

And when the police did actually do that a few months back, the "progressives" (sarcasm) of Philadelphia felt the need to pull out their phones to record the incident and banish the act via social media.... That is something that drives me nuts and its seems to happen more in Philadelphia, like that Starbucks incident a year ago... its still in the papers, like move on people.

It stinks because Kenney and the city are eventually going to have to say enough is enough and essentially ignore the uproar it will cause from the "progressives" throughout the city, and I say this as a generally liberal person.

Unless some new officials enter office this year, the city won't wake up until an innocent pedestrian is either severely attacked or unfortunately killed by someone down there... The stabbing and killing between homeless people at Broad and Spruce wasn't enough to get the city going...

Yeah, don't expect much. Maybe we should have the homeless come urinate and defecate on the progressives' front door and see what they think.

[Redddog]

Is this really a progressive thing?

I'm as progressive as the next guy and I think this should be taken care of immediately.

As for the cop thing, I think it's actually a pretty good gig. In NY at least, you're retired at 20 years in with like 90% salary and full benefits. I have a buddy who's wife was a cop - she just retired at 44 and makes $85k a year plus full benefits.

I'd have thought long and hard about that as a kid outta college. I mean, if I wasn't such a pansy boy.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

The permanent cop station is a nice addition. At least you can go there if you have an issue, whereas before you had no place to go if you needed help.

I would think Philly would recruit from the enormous number of post-soldiers, criminal justice grads, and other sources that are out there. Although it's hard to be a cop nowadays, so maybe that's slowing the roll.

The cop booth surprised me when I saw it. Hopefully it will be effectual. I was also surprised, when septa cops were attempting strike action, that there were so few of them.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Redddog

Is this really a progressive thing?

I'm as progressive as the next guy and I think this should be taken care of immediately.

As for the cop thing, I think it's actually a pretty good gig. In NY at least, you're retired at 20 years in with like 90% salary and full benefits. I have a buddy who's wife was a cop - she just retired at 44 and makes $85k a year plus full benefits.

I'd have thought long and hard about that as a kid outta college. I mean, if I wasn't such a pansy boy.

The newest data I could get about PPD salaries was from 2015.

The average salary was $67, 130 and $51, 245 for a rookie cop just out of the academy. A lot end up earning overtime depending for obvious reasons. Even for Philly, 67K isn't a lot of money when you may be putting your life on the line.

[Patmcpsu]

Originally Posted by Redddog

Is this really a progressive thing?

I'm as progressive as the next guy and I think this should be taken care of immediately.

As for the cop thing, I think it's actually a pretty good gig. In NY at least, you're retired at 20 years in with like 90% salary and full benefits. I have a buddy who's wife was a cop - she just retired at 44 and makes $85k a year plus full benefits.

I'd have thought long and hard about that as a kid outta college. I mean, if I wasn't such a pansy boy.

There are progressives, and then there are SJWs. SJWs are a subset of progressives.

It is an SJW trait, whenever encountering anything unpleasant, to record it with your phone, post it on social media, and hope to incite an online lynch mob to gain your 15 minutes of internet fame.

Then there are the more old-school progressives who see something unpleasant, say "c'est la vie" for the short term, and support different policies in the long term. The key difference is that they're not trying to ruin somebody's life for being involved in the status quo.