Yet another downtown stabbing (Pittsburgh, Harrisburg: camp, to live, housing)

[Charley Barker]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I think the fallacy in all of this is assuming Pittsburgh is an outlier. I was just in Portland a couple of weeks ago. Their downtown is smaller than Pittsburgh’s, though Portland does have more adjoining neighborhoods. The number of homeless / junkies is astounding. Of course, West Coast cities with moderate climates offer a different set of advantages and challenges leading to homelessness relative to Pittsburgh, but to make it sound like this is a Pittsburgh thing is grossly understating the ways the opioid epidemic, economic disparities, and mental health crises manifesting themselves in this country.

I am sure similar issues exist in rural areas, but without as much centralization of services and opportunities (both good and bad), the problem becomes way more visible in cities. Make no mistake, police presence may help this in the short term and may increase feelings of safety among downtown patrons, but it is treating the symptom, not the source of the problem to begin with.

Same goes for Montreal. Granted it is twice the size metro, but we recently stayed near the Latin Quarter, and some days the panhandlers/pretty obviously addicted street people outnumbered the residents and tourists. And this is a pretty heavily visited area of the city. The one thing we were told by locals is not to "donate" since there are adequate shelters and food available for anyone who needed it due to the city's and provincial resources. This proved to be true by observation, as I really don't recall seeing anyone sleeping on the streets.


This is an urban epidemic. Can anyone explain why NYC seems to be so immune, or I am I just not seeing it since I have never traveled much outside Manhattan? Have they continued to push the problems out to the boroughs as was the practice under Giulliani?

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I think the fallacy in all of this is assuming Pittsburgh is an outlier. I was just in Portland a couple of weeks ago. Their downtown is smaller than Pittsburgh’s, though Portland does have more adjoining neighborhoods. The number of homeless / junkies is astounding. Of course, West Coast cities with moderate climates offer a different set of advantages and challenges leading to homelessness relative to Pittsburgh, but to make it sound like this is a Pittsburgh thing is grossly understating the ways the opioid epidemic, economic disparities, and mental health crises manifesting themselves in this country.

I am sure similar issues exist in rural areas, but without as much centralization of services and opportunities (both good and bad), the problem becomes way more visible in cities. Make no mistake, police presence may help this in the short term and may increase feelings of safety among downtown patrons, but it is treating the symptom, not the source of the problem to begin with.

Agreed. We were in Morgantown, WV last weekend for a day-trip, and there were addicts and homeless everywhere. This is a national crisis that nobody is paying attention to because wondering how Hillary killed Epstein or who will win "Big Brother" is more important.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I think the fallacy in all of this is assuming Pittsburgh is an outlier. I was just in Portland a couple of weeks ago. Their downtown is smaller than Pittsburgh’s, though Portland does have more adjoining neighborhoods. The number of homeless / junkies is astounding. Of course, West Coast cities with moderate climates offer a different set of advantages and challenges leading to homelessness relative to Pittsburgh, but to make it sound like this is a Pittsburgh thing is grossly understating the ways the opioid epidemic, economic disparities, and mental health crises manifesting themselves in this country.

I am sure similar issues exist in rural areas, but without as much centralization of services and opportunities (both good and bad), the problem becomes way more visible in cities. Make no mistake, police presence may help this in the short term and may increase feelings of safety among downtown patrons, but it is treating the symptom, not the source of the problem to begin with.

Hell, most West Coast cities have designated "homeless neighborhoods" (like Skid Row or The Tenderloin) where the city tends to congregate social services/drug treatment and doesn't even bother stopping people from camping out on public sidewalks.

[Charley Barker]

I think a lot of what we see in Pittsburgh are those transient panhandlers who summer (spring and fall too) in our city. The shame of it is that those residents who need help, many of whom are still the people with mental illness who have been pushed out into communities following disinvestment in state institutions, are now overwhelmed themselves with the itinerants. There is a raging argument over how best to serve these people, but when the state closed these "hospitals" only a fraction of the money allocated to them went into community care.


Are there still vagrancy laws on the books? If so, they need to be enforced. If the visiting homeless population gets wind of this they will respond by moving on, leaving those who truly need care and support to receive it.

[eschaton]

When I first moved here, it seemed like the genuine homeless - although crazy - mostly kept to themselves. Most of the panhandlers I met actually were on SSI and had somewhere to live. Asking for money was their 9-5 job, and then they went home.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by Charley Barker

Are there still vagrancy laws on the books? If so, they need to be enforced. If the visiting homeless population gets wind of this they will respond by moving on, leaving those who truly need care and support to receive it.

Well, only if you camp out in Peduto's backyard. Did anybody forget about this farce already?
https://archive.triblive.com/local/a...-pedutos-house

One set of rules for our East End overlords, and another set of rules for everyone else.

[svband76]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Well, only if you camp out in Peduto's backyard. Did anybody forget about this farce already?
https://archive.triblive.com/local/a...-pedutos-house

One set of rules for our East End overlords, and another set of rules for everyone else.

Bunch of tents near river along the rail trail from the Rivers Casino almost all the way to Rocks bridge. They've been there forever, along with the garbage they just throw anywhere. I wish I had a riverfront piece of property I can call my own...

[gg]

Maybe we are just overthinking the panhandlers and such. What we are seeing is how weak we are getting by giving so much to the needy, which in turn makes people in general weaker. The weaker people get the more we will see beggars and people wanting handouts because they have gotten so weak they can no longer be self sufficient. Just makes sense as we keep helping the helpless we as a whole will just become weak as a species. Kind of obvious. Back in the day when people were tough you just didn't see all this going on in great times like we have today. Sure you had beggars when times were really tough with soup lines and such, but not in great times like we have today. If you can't make it in these times you are super weak. We are just turning into snowflakes I guess. No stopping it. Maybe that is the simple answer. Lots of snowflakes in the west and they are the frontrunners with them all looking for handouts since life is so hard. lol Geez, wonder how it will be when we have harder times. Oh my!!!! Better arm yourself well.

[norcider]

Originally Posted by zalewskimm

Bunch of tents near river along the rail trail from the Rivers Casino almost all the way to Rocks bridge. They've been there forever, along with the garbage they just throw anywhere. I wish I had a riverfront piece of property I can call my own...

To be fair, this is a somewhat recent phenomenon on the trail to Western Pen. There was a camp or two over the years but yeah lately it's gotten bad. I will say it, you'd never see that if it was a popular trail that served Squirrel Hill or the like. If it's in the North Side it's out of sight out of mind.

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by gg

You are not alone. The general vibe in Pittsburgh is really different. Gone are the friendly days of people smiling. VERY different city and almost to the point everyone is living in fear of one and other. More of an angry vibe.

On another note I started researching beggars and panhandlers. Wow, they can rake in the money. No wonder why there are so many in our little city. Making a ton of money, own hours, no boss and the list goes on. I think you would have to be very self-centered to be one though. To know you are bothering everyone all day everyday extracting money from people and contributing nothing to society. Yep, you would really have to be entitled to do such a thing all the time.

The vibe in Pittsburgh has definitely changed over the years. I started to notice the change in the mid to late 2000s. It used to be friendly city and people would say hello. It was a confident city. I think the loss of USAirways and the city going into act 47 left a lasting and negative mark on city. Then the recession was the straw that broke it. Pittsburghers were always known for being tough, proud and hardworking with some money to spend. Now it seems just like an angry left behind vibe where the group of people 15 years ago the same age were much happier and had a future. The Eastern Allegheny county suburbs are different too. Monroeville used to be great. Even Churchill. The economic decline that has gone on past the squirrel hill tunnels is staggering. I don’t know what the future will be for the region outside of the western burbs, cranberry and airport. It’s not looking like there is one for most of the region

Originally Posted by norcider

To be fair, this is a somewhat recent phenomenon on the trail to Western Pen. There was a camp or two over the years but yeah lately it's gotten bad. I will say it, you'd never see that if it was a popular trail that served Squirrel Hill or the like. If it's in the North Side it's out of sight out of mind.

The north side doesn’t matter to this administration