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Wasn't SLC accused of trying to bus their homeless to Las Vegas and other cities?
Salt Lake City, realizing how expensive it is to have homeless on the streets, has been building a number of apartment buildings for the homeless. Any number of homeless people aren't even aware they're eligible for Medicaid or SSD, so by getting some of these people on these programs, they can then afford to live in these designated apartment buildings.
I work in a LTC/Rehab facility and the homeless that end up here are usually shocked that they're eligible for Medicaid and all the other associated benefits, like help with finding housing and food stamps.
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At what point do the people who are funding these services get sick of handing out benefits to the drunks and the drug addicts (which is what the long term street people usually are)? Free health care, free housing, free money (SSI/SSD not sure the correct acronym). You're point is correct that they cost us money on the street. But that's because we allow them to cost us money on the street. That's what needs to stop.
Any number of homeless people today are painfully aware of all the hoops one must jump through just to get a minimum wage job today. And let's not forget, 70% of Americans are just 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
When I was briefly homeless in Denver, back in 1972, it was a piece of cake to go from being homeless to being employed. Not the hoops to jump through like there is today.
I applied to work a minimum wage job at a nursing home. Back then, unlike today, you didn't need to go to school and get a CNA license, you worked under someone for a few days, and began working full-time. Also, back then, I didn't need to spend $40-50 to get a CPR card, I didn't have to be drug tested, I didn't need to be tested for TB, and I didn't need a year's of experience, like they require today, and all the other hoops that are placed in front of you today.
If I were homeless today, facing all those obstacles, I may have just given up hope!
Some of these homeless people may have recently been released from prison, and just think of the obstacles placed in front of them!!!
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At what point do the people who are funding these services get sick of handing out benefits to the drunks and the drug addicts (which is what the long term street people usually are)? Free health care, free housing, free money (SSI/SSD not sure the correct acronym). You're point is correct that they cost us money on the street. But that's because we allow them to cost us money on the street. That's what needs to stop.
At what point do we tap in to our humanity and realize there is a part of our society that will never conform. Not to mention it is TOUGH to compete in the rat race we live in even with a college education and a support network. When I was 18 30 years ago the idea of getting a job was a tangible one. You dress nice and even if you were inexperienced you could walk in to a place and use your looks and youth to land a job. Nowadays with online job hunting getting a job is really out of touch unless you know someone.
I truly feel for people who perhaps are mentally ill, disabled vets, or have a prison record and have a hard time functioning in this world that is ****ing hard to compete in even if you have all your i's and t's crossed.
Are we animals and leave the weak and unable to die and fend for themselves? Or are we an advanced race who can figure out how to efficiently extend our humanity in at least a basic way?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijlover
Salt Lake City, realizing how expensive it is to have homeless on the streets, has been building a number of apartment buildings for the homeless. Any number of homeless people aren't even aware they're eligible for Medicaid or SSD, so by getting some of these people on these programs, they can then afford to live in these designated apartment buildings.
I work in a LTC/Rehab facility and the homeless that end up here are usually shocked that they're eligible for Medicaid and all the other associated benefits, like help with finding housing and food stamps.
Fantastic. SLC has to be one of the most highly conservative towns around yet they are finding a way to solving this issue.
Any number of homeless people today are painfully aware of all the hoops one must jump through just to get a minimum wage job today. And let's not forget, 70% of Americans are just 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Generally speaking, I find that homeless people fall into two categories. People who get drop kicked in some way and end up broke. But their still functional, find a way to muddle through, and find some way to get some sort of roof over their heads. You general don't see these people, because they don't try and inflict themselves on the public. In point of fact they are ashamed that they're homeless, and are actively trying to find a way to get back to functionality. I have sympathy for these people, but I think assistance can be counter productive, event them, because it breeds dependence, they get in the "system" and can't get back out. I see that a lot here (NYC)
Then there are the other kind of homeless. The drunks, drug addicts, and mentally ill (and usually in combinations thereof.) It was likely the addiction that lead to their homelessness. Nearly all of the homeless that the public run into fall into this category. I see them on the street all the time. All they care about is scrounging enough money to get their next drug hit. They're not trying to get themselves off the street. They're not trying to get themselves back to functionality. They have no problem inflicting themselves on society.
Quote:
When I was briefly homeless in Denver, back in 1972, it was a piece of cake to go from being homeless to being employed. Not the hoops to jump through like there is today.
I applied to work a minimum wage job at a nursing home. Back then, unlike today, you didn't need to go to school and get a CNA license, you worked under someone for a few days, and began working full-time. Also, back then, I didn't need to spend $40-50 to get a CPR card, I didn't have to be drug tested, I didn't need to be tested for TB, and I didn't need a year's of experience, like they require today, and all the other hoops that are placed in front of you today.
In general, I agree with this. A lot of jobs have become vastly over regulated. But on the flip side, especially in the nursing home / medical situation, there were likely legitimate disasters / outrages that led to these regulation.
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If I were homeless today, facing all those obstacles, I may have just given up hope!
I bet you wouldn't. I bet you would have found a way to muddle through.
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Some of these homeless people may have recently been released from prison, and just think of the obstacles placed in front of them!!!
Sorry, if they committed crimes, they've basically put themselves at the end of the line for any kind of job. They had to know that going it.
BBMW doesn't realize, through an accident (to err is to be human) he could end up in prison as well, even a family member, his best friend, or myself.
How?
BBMW picks the wrong street to drive down, some night, he comes across a crosswalk, with little street lighting, it's in between 2 well-lit crosswalks at stoplight intersections. The man/woman crossing that crosswalk that night had black clothing on, and BBMW failed to see him until the body hit his windshield.
What could BBMW be potentially charged with? Involuntary manslaughter!
Reading about all the pedestrian deaths in crosswalks today, I have all the streets memorized now, which streets to avoid that have crosswalks on dark streets.
We should all have compassion for anyone getting out of prison, if they served their time, were punished accordingly, so why punish them to eternity after they're released.
A homeless person costs taxpayers, roughly, $42.5K a year, and prison costs run $40-50k a year, so which poison do you prefer?
Taking your particular hypothetical here, sorry, but no. Someone crossing mid-block is crossing illegally. Nothing they'd ever be charged with, but because they're breaking the rules, the driver would not likely be charged. In point of fact, unless there is some either conscious act or significant negligence, motorists usually don't get charged in pedestrian deaths. This is especially true when acts/mistakes by the pedestrian are a significant cause of the accident.
My sister hit an 11YO boy who ran out into the street. He wasn't badly hurt, but he was hospitalized for a day or two (mostly for observation.) Not only wasn't she charged with anything, the civil case the family tried to bring never went anywhere.
And, with everything I've seen with the criminal justice system, unless you do something very serious, commit a crime that carries some sort of mandatory minimum, or commit repeat crimes, more likely than not, your not going to jail. It will get plead down before trial, or the judge, especially for first offenders, will go light on the defendant, especially in plea deals. If you look at most convicts in jails/prison, I bet your find that the overwhelming majority have multiple convictions, and even more arrests that didn't result in convictions.
Now, am I saying that a first time offender couldn't get the book thrown at them? No. I'm sure anicdotally it happens. The law of large numbers would likely demand that. But is it the statistically significant situation? No. And in determining any sort of policy, you're looking at what the most the most statistically dominant situation is. In the case of ex-cons, they're likely frequent flyers in the criminal justice system, and are so because of their own actions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijlover
BBMW doesn't realize, through an accident (to err is to be human) he could end up in prison as well, even a family member, his best friend, or myself.
How?
BBMW picks the wrong street to drive down, some night, he comes across a crosswalk, with little street lighting, it's in between 2 well-lit crosswalks at stoplight intersections. The man/woman crossing that crosswalk that night had black clothing on, and BBMW failed to see him until the body hit his windshield.
What could BBMW be potentially charged with? Involuntary manslaughter!
Reading about all the pedestrian deaths in crosswalks today, I have all the streets memorized now, which streets to avoid that have crosswalks on dark streets.
We should all have compassion for anyone getting out of prison, if they served their time, were punished accordingly, so why punish them to eternity after they're released.
A homeless person costs taxpayers, roughly, $42.5K a year, and prison costs run $40-50k a year, so which poison do you prefer?
I think you missed my point, I'm talking about crosswalks, in between major intersections. A crosswalk is a crosswalk.
Up the street from me, on Mojave, there's a crosswalk, to connect a bikepath. I've walked up there at night, many times, and cars race by, well over the speed limit, oblivious to the crosswalk. There's a Stop sign, indicating you must stop if there's a pedestrian crossing. If someone was wearing dark clothing, and at the speed of the drivers up there, this pedestrian is going to get run over.
If you read about the pedestrian deaths in the paper, it will say: pedestrian wasn't in a crosswalk, or was in a crosswalk. In a crosswalk that pedestrian is in his rights.
It's unlikely, unless there is a seriously aggravating circumstance (drunk driving, speeding to an absurd level, etc.) that a motorist who hit a pedestrian would get charged with a felony. Most likely they'll get hit with a traffic violation. The civil case will be a bigger issue for the driver. But that would be covered by their insurance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tijlover
I think you missed my point, I'm talking about crosswalks, in between major intersections. A crosswalk is a crosswalk.
Up the street from me, on Mojave, there's a crosswalk, to connect a bikepath. I've walked up there at night, many times, and cars race by, well over the speed limit, oblivious to the crosswalk. There's a Stop sign, indicating you must stop if there's a pedestrian crossing. If someone was wearing dark clothing, and at the speed of the drivers up there, this pedestrian is going to get run over.
If you read about the pedestrian deaths in the paper, it will say: pedestrian wasn't in a crosswalk, or was in a crosswalk. In a crosswalk that pedestrian is in his rights.
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