Pittsburgh Vagrancy Law (York, Washington, California: apartment, homes, living)

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

This could be said of many people I see in Carrick at night only those dudes could be out to hurt you. I don't see these dudes hurting anyone so I'm not really worried about them. This country was founded upon man's inalienable rights which include pursuit of happiness. If these people aren't hurting others and this type of lifestyle makes them happy then live and let live. There's hundreds of other things wrong with this country more pertinent than people who reject social norms to find their happiness.

As per the article posted, many don't use their real names because they have outstanding warrants out for the across the country for things like assault. Heck, I saw one of them stab another then take off when I was eating dinner out on a restaurant patio last summer

Maybe since you don't live in area that's invested with them 24hrs a day you see things differently, but all I see are a bunch of potentially dangerous people sitting on the main sidewalk areas harassing passers by, providing no benefit to anyone (maybe the local liquor store & drug dealers) & being nothing but a leach on local services all because some white kids think it'd be fun to pretend to be homeless for a year.

[creepsinc]

Actually, most of the ones I've known had horrible family lives and ran away from home as teenagers.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Actually, most of the ones I've known had horrible family lives and ran away from home as teenagers.

Even if that's true for some of them, they should then be excluded from trying to better themselves & I should have to assist in supporting them? These are able bodied, mentally competent 20 somethings we are talking about.

[raubre]

I read in the article that they don't beg for food. They (pretty much) dumpster dive. Why are these places even considering on wasting food like that? If they are going to throw it out, they may as well just give it away. It makes the restaraunt owners look more selfish in my eyes.

[Benzman66]

Originally Posted by raubre

I read in the article that they don't beg for food. They (pretty much) dumpster dive. Why are these places even considering on wasting food like that? If they are going to throw it out, they may as well just give it away. It makes the restaraunt owners look more selfish in my eyes.

Most of the restaurants will no longer donate food due to the potential liability and lawsuits. When my friend owned the Sheraton, he use to donate all the food left over at the end of the day to shelters and soup kitchens, until one day, someone ate a piece of pizza and sued. Who knows if maybe that pizza had sat out at the shelter overnight, someone put something in it, or whatever, but the law looks at it just like drinking. Wherever they served the person the last beer before he/she gets into an accident gets sued, and the person who donates the food someone gets sick on is in the same boat. It's a shame because TONS of food now get thrown out daily, from pretty much every restaurant in the world.

I see it happen everyday, whether you stop into a Sheetz and see the garbage bags filled with unsold donuts or a Pizza Hut with dumpsters filled with unsold pies, the only one getting it is the garbage man. Most places (I believe there now is a state law from the health dept) have a time limit on how long something can sit before it gets thrown, so throw out happens even more now.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Benzman66

Most of the restaurants will no longer donate food due to the potential liability and lawsuits. When my friend owned the Sheraton, he use to donate all the food left over at the end of the day to shelters and soup kitchens, until one day, someone ate a piece of pizza and sued. Who knows if maybe that pizza had sat out at the shelter overnight, someone put something in it, or whatever, but the law looks at it just like drinking. Wherever they served the person the last beer before he/she gets into an accident gets sued, and the person who donates the food someone gets sick on is in the same boat. It's a shame because TONS of food now get thrown out daily, from pretty much every restaurant in the world.

I see it happen everyday, whether you stop into a Sheetz and see the garbage bags filled with unsold donuts or a Pizza Hut with dumpsters filled with unsold pies, the only one getting it is the garbage man. Most places (I believe there now is a state law from the health dept) have a time limit on how long something can sit before it gets thrown, so throw out happens even more now.

Sad, isn't it?

[Quiet-T]

Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by Benzman66

It's a shame because TONS of food now get thrown out daily, from pretty much every restaurant in the world.

Yeah, kind of makes you sick when you realize just how many people are starving in the world, and in America we have throw out tons of it here because our obese population can't eat it fast enough.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

UKYank is right. This city needs hierarchical categorization of vagrants. I've developed a proposal in which we allocate increased resources to assist the "normal homeless" while simultaneously developing a procedure for Pgh Police to identify and eradicate the insidious, abnormal homeless--as defined by Yank.

1. Homeless people are people who have no homes; further distinction is pretty absurd. This is the city. They're going to be here. If you don't want to give them money, then don't give them money.

2. As others have stated, most of these folks are on the streets because of mental issues, current or past drug problems or exceptionally poor home lives at a young age, not because it's a fun vacation for young, white people. There are some exceptions (far less than you think), but even in those cases, it's a very difficult life to live, not party time.

3. I gaurantee that slogging through years of crime reports will consistently reveal college students to be the result of significantly more petty crime than crusties in Oakland and the South Side. Of course, their nice attire, generally afforded them by their parent's money, most likely precludes them from "general nuisance" status as they parade down the street peeing and puking on buildings and getting into fights with one another.

4. Most soup/food kitchens are open to everyone, the homeless and the hungry. If you want a meal there, they'll probably serve you too. That's the point. The concept of charity can be aggravating that way. Standards really should be developed so that some people who live daily on the street in the elements with no shelter and less than a highschool education get a free meal and other people who live daily on the street in the elements with no shelter and less than a highschool education get turned away.

All in all, none of the homeless in this city, crusty or otherwise, are going to greatly impact your life if you choose to ignore them. Maybe instead of being resentful of how little they have, for whatever reason, you could focus your energy on being happy that your house is warm and full of food, and let them be. That's what I do.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

You mean gutter punks? Crusties: a hardened existence on the road

Sometimes they set up shop on the far side of the Liberty Tunnels, under that underpass/pigeon colony. I saw the dude named "Spaz" from that article there just the other day.

wow, didn't realize Pittsburgh annually got them each summer.

Those types are absolutely everywhere all over the West Coast. But, predominately Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco where they seem to most often originate. From the article, sounds like some are from the South, but my guess is they gravitated to the West Coast and picked up the lifestyle there.