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Under the radar from the prying eyes of the public, South Carolina made it legal to get rid of their homeless problem. The people were given a choice, FEMA Camps or jail. The irony of it all was this happened right at the 50th Anniversary of Civil Liberties in August. The bad part is different cities from Boston to New York are shipping off their homeless, and no one cares. Is this coming to a town near you?
In August the city of Colombia, South Carolina, had a problem. A festival honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement was coming to town. They couldn’t be seen with all the homeless when guests arrived from all parts of the United States. So the city council held a vote and made homelessness a crime.
This actually happened in Seattle for a day when Clinton was coming in to town. This was back in the 90s. The city rounded up all of the homeless people, I don't know where they put them, but they did it because they didn't want Clinton to see them. Fricken liberal idiots. Once Clinton was gone, the homeless were back out on the streets.
And just in case anyone wants to question that, here you go:
Quote:
Six Seattle homeless-rights groups have sent an open letter to the police chief, mayor, and city council, as well as President Clinton, urging them not to "sweep" the homeless out of sight when the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference begins Nov. 29, 1999, reported the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (9/13/99). The letter has prompted at least one city councilmember to send a note to the Seattle Police Department expressing concern. Though the department denies conducting such sweeps, Chris Flanagan, head of Seattle Food Not Bombs (FNB), one of the groups leading the letter campaign, contends the city arrested scores of homeless people and moved others from public places during 1993's Asian Pacific Economic Conference and 1990's Goodwill Games. Homeless advocates plan to set up a tent city as one of many expected protests during the WTO conference. Information: Seattle FNB, P.O. Box 45523, Seattle, WA 98145; fnb(at)scn(dot)org.
According to local business owners homelessness is a 20 year old problem.
Columbia is a rough city; I lived downtown for years.
I personally think the city leadership's focus on the "homeless problem" is a distraction away from the city's gang problem. It really shows the powerlessness of law enforcement in dealing with real problems, when they are scared to take on the thugs, and prefer to deal with the homeless.
Uh; word is many of us, maybe most are 1 to 2 paychecks away from disaster like being homeless.
True that. When I used to see my arrogant neighbors in their McMansions and leased Jeep Gran Cherokees I often said that most were only two missed paychecks from dumpster diving. Few people have any savings. Many have already drained their 401k's or taken early SS. Not a pretty picture.
Typical AJ article....take a legitimate situation and then slap "FEMA Camps" and "Who is next!!!!????" onto it to stoke the paranoid fears of *them* coming to imprison everyone BWAH HAH HAH!
With regards to the homeless, there are available shelters. You cannot force them to use those shelters just like you cannot force them to take medications, not do drugs and so on and so forth. The shelters have strict rules which is why the chronically homeless tend to avoid them.
Homeless typically fall into 2 broad categories....temporary and habitual. They are very very different.
Shelters also fill up very very quickly. I remember hating to see women with kids since the kids no matter how small counted the same as an adult. They could take fifty. Some women with three kids likely meant three adults were left to fend for themselves that night.
There will never be enough shelters for the people who will go to them either since a lot of people can't travel to some isolated place for a shelter, and that is where most of the lucky want them to be. The one I stayed at was just behind the business district and next to nice homes. The business owners had tried to get rid of it but they failed. The cops would harass people to get cars off the street by 8am despite it being open public parking. It was plain we were not welcome in their little corner of the world.
A lot of people would go to shelters if they were provided, not the hard core habitual types, but the out of luck type. But they may not have the transportation to go to some really out of the way place.
A lot of the people who slept there were also working, but didn't have enough for a motel and certainly not for a room or apartment. In the shelter they could shower and look presentable at work.
A clean, dependable place you could stay the night and know it would be there, even under normal shelter conditions/control would have been a blessing. Just a bed and the ability to return late if you had to. I had counseling I had to quit since when I went I ended up in a coffee shop sitting up all night.
Place them in areas where the people always advocate for them. If a rich person is always standing up for homeless right's, then set up free housing in rich neighborhoods. See how they quickly stop supporting the cause.
It is sad if this is really happening. But nobody wants them in their neighborhood. Not even those rich hippies who are crying foul.
No one in this thread has noted "Who calls the political shots in South Carolina and who sets state government policy in South Carolina. " Who might be embarassed by have homeless people wandering around tourist places like Charleston, Myrtle Beach, or Columbia? Is it dear little Nikki or Goober Graham what about that boob who traded a Senate seat for wealth and Billionaries money at the Heritage Foundation? What party do these great public servants belong to?
Try to convince us why they aren't responsible.
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