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Old 04-08-2007, 06:59 AM
 
3,269 posts, read 9,906,504 times
Reputation: 2025

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There is not a chance that the wannabe gangsters were college students. I've lived in towns long enough to recognize when people are up to no good, and they were. I understand that you love your town, but however surprised you were that I had the impression that I did, I was not the only one. You know that perception is reality right? That is the view that "outsiders" have of the downtown area and we are looking with fresh unbiased eyes. I think the link that CrisNC provided proves there are some "elements" to Chapel Hill that you have chosen to ignore. I KNOW there are great areas to Chapel Hill and found many that I really liked and would have no problem living in Chapel Hill. My inital post was simlpy about my findings downtown and how surprised I was at what I found. I was not quick to jump to conclusions, in fact I returned the next day and reported better findings.

When you live somewhere you love, sometimes it's hard to admit there is something a little off. But, there is a something a little off with your downtown area. It's ok to admit that.
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Old 04-08-2007, 07:58 AM
 
Location: Cary NC
125 posts, read 529,110 times
Reputation: 79
Quote:
Originally Posted by brightmidnight View Post
The only problem with it is the homeless people (or, better put, the people who claim they're homeless-- most of them actually aren't and do this for a living).

RIGHT ON!!!!!
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Old 04-08-2007, 09:26 AM
 
Location: Durham, NC
2,024 posts, read 5,898,889 times
Reputation: 3478
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tampa Red View Post
I don't know what it's like around Princeton, but you can sure find plenty of panhandlers, homeless, roving gangs at times in Harvard Square.
That was my first thought to reading this thread, too.

I actually spent the better part of my afternoon yesterday driving out to Wake Forest and Knightdale and driving around, looking at communities. Hadn't been out to those parts of Wake County so thought, after all I'd read on city-data, that it would be worth taking a glance.

Do places like Chapel Hill -- or downtown Raleigh, or downtown Durham -- have panhandlers and homeless individuals? Yes, absolutely. And you can live in places that don't have that (at least, don't visibly have that...) Like Knightdale, or Wake Forest, or Holly Springs, or Clayton.

Personally, though, I think you miss out on the vibrance of life in a city. Which isn't for everyone, of course. But you're not going to find the elements that make places like Chapel Hill/Carrboro, or Brightleaf Square, or Glenwood South attractive.

I've said it before and will again: a plus to the Triangle is you can have any kind of lifestyle you want, from urban to suburban to exurban. Don't expect the urban parts to look yuppified and solely "upscale." If you're looking for that... that's why developers are manufacturing places like walking districts in malls and mixed-use, to provide a controlled environment. But you'll be trading off local stores for chain stores, and bistros for Bennigan's. It's every individual's call to make, but recognize it is a choice.
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Old 04-08-2007, 09:33 AM
 
Location: Austin TX
959 posts, read 4,484,012 times
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I always give them the benefit of the doubt. They probably are homeless and spend their nights at the downtown area shelters. A very large number of homeless have untreated mental health problems. Often they are schizophrenic or are manic-depressive and have neither family support nor access to mental health services. Even if they do have family support, they may stop taking their meds for whatever reason, have a recurrence of symptoms, and disappear forever. Side note that in movies they always say a character is "schizophrenic" if they are exhibiting multiple personalities, however that particular illness is called dissociative identity disorder. Schizophrenia is a COMPLETELY different thing. Pet peeve of mine I guess Hollywood just thinks the word sounds cool so they'll use it whenever they can.

"Approximately 200,000 individuals with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness are homeless, constituting one-third of the approximately 600,000 homeless population"

"The New York Times recently reported that in Berkeley, California, "on any given night there are 1,000 to 1,200 people sleeping on the streets. Half of them are deinstitutionalized mentally ill people. It’s like a mental ward on the streets."

Click here to read more about mental health prevalence among the homeless (http://www.psychlaws.org/generalResources/fact11.htm - broken link)

"Usually this illness starts with a prepsychotic phase of social and academic/occupational impairment. A few months or years later, a psychotic phase develops (with delusions, hallucinations, or grossly bizarre/disorganized speech and behavior)."

"Unfortunately, even on antipsychotic medication, most individuals with Schizophrenia can't return to gainful employment due to the intellectual impairments caused by this illness (e.g., poor concentration, poor memory, impaired problem-solving, inability to "multi-task", and apathy)."

"Life-long treatment with antipsychotic medication is essential for recovery from Schizophrenia. Individuals also require long-term emotional and financial support from their families."


The above excerpts are from this site

Click here to read more about schizophrenia (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/schizoph.cfm#definition - broken link)
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Old 04-08-2007, 12:25 PM
 
Location: Blacksburg, VA
823 posts, read 3,911,522 times
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I was looking for more information about the downtown and found this thread on Triangle.com, http://share.triangle.com/?q=node/4309, and this recent Chapel Hill town report, http://www.downtownchapelhill.com/pdfs/BoardMinutes9.29.06.pdf (broken link)
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Old 04-08-2007, 01:13 PM
 
169 posts, read 776,683 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Indigoblue View Post
I always give them the benefit of the doubt. They probably are homeless and spend their nights at the downtown area shelters.

"Unfortunately, even on antipsychotic medication, most individuals with Schizophrenia can't return to gainful employment due to the intellectual impairments caused by this illness (e.g., poor concentration, poor memory,
Most of them are not homeless. Twice I have been told by separate people who spent all day on Franklin Street (selling cookies and that sort of thing for a student club) that the "homeless" people would duck into Bank of America while their buddies pulled up in a Lexus. Buddies in Lexus would go into the bank lobby, retrieve huge wads of cash from their friends posing as "homeless" people, and be on their way in said Lexus. Large amounts of cash gathered all day from unsuspecting college students who felt sorry for them and gave them money. Once, the main homeless advocate in Chapel Hill said in the Daily Tarheel that you shouldn't give them money, since he was giving them food and shelter and many people are faking. He said one guy lives (in a house) in Hillsborough and comes every day pretending to be homeless.

There are some that are actually homeless-- you can tell who they are because they sit on benches but don't approach for money. They may in fact be mentally ill, or they may have other problems. A friend works at a company on Franklin Street, and a person lived in their upstairs hallway for years. The guy has disappeared in recent weeks, and everyone feels awful and wonders what happened to him. The guy never asked for money, and I wish that he had gotten some of the cash that some of these pretenders are raking in.

I have a friend who has schizophrenia, and there are varying degrees of the illness. He can hold a job just fine-- he actually only gets bad when he DOESN'T have a job, and that's also the case for many schizophrenics. Life changes can bring it out. Getting a job would help them with the situation, but obviously it's hard to do that when you're paranoid about anything and everything.
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Old 04-08-2007, 01:38 PM
 
Location: Austin TX
959 posts, read 4,484,012 times
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I'm not saying everyone pretending to be homeless actually is. I'm just saying my personal philosophy is to give the person the benefit of the doubt. That doesn't mean I would give money in the streets, particularly not so close to a homeless shelter. Just that I don't think the automatic assumption should be that someone is a *******.

I also have had a very high functioning schizophrenic friend, as well as friends with all kinds of different types of mental illnesses. Really mental health problems are so common, and yes there are many diff degrees of severity.

Quote:
Originally Posted by brightmidnight View Post
Most of them are not homeless. Twice I have been told by separate people who spent all day on Franklin Street (selling cookies and that sort of thing for a student club) that the "homeless" people would duck into Bank of America while their buddies pulled up in a Lexus. Buddies in Lexus would go into the bank lobby, retrieve huge wads of cash from their friends posing as "homeless" people, and be on their way in said Lexus. Large amounts of cash gathered all day from unsuspecting college students who felt sorry for them and gave them money. Once, the main homeless advocate in Chapel Hill said in the Daily Tarheel that you shouldn't give them money, since he was giving them food and shelter and many people are faking. He said one guy lives (in a house) in Hillsborough and comes every day pretending to be homeless.

There are some that are actually homeless-- you can tell who they are because they sit on benches but don't approach for money. They may in fact be mentally ill, or they may have other problems. A friend works at a company on Franklin Street, and a person lived in their upstairs hallway for years. The guy has disappeared in recent weeks, and everyone feels awful and wonders what happened to him. The guy never asked for money, and I wish that he had gotten some of the cash that some of these pretenders are raking in.

I have a friend who has schizophrenia, and there are varying degrees of the illness. He can hold a job just fine-- he actually only gets bad when he DOESN'T have a job, and that's also the case for many schizophrenics. Life changes can bring it out. Getting a job would help them with the situation, but obviously it's hard to do that when you're paranoid about anything and everything.
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Old 04-08-2007, 01:42 PM
 
Location: Austin TX
959 posts, read 4,484,012 times
Reputation: 467
Looking through one of the links provided above...someone is suggesting that some of the people panhandling aren't allowed in the homeless shelters b/c their substance or mental health issues are too severe. Wonder if this is true. I suppose even homeless shelters must have rules.

Also, the other link states that Chapel Hill has no ordinances against panhandling (though that may have changed since it was written?) and that the homeless are not allowed in the shelter during the day so downtown is a convenient place for them to hang out.
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Old 04-08-2007, 05:44 PM
 
3,021 posts, read 11,032,397 times
Reputation: 1638
This may seem a little off-topic now, but ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdatlas View Post
MrsSteel,

We are hoping to buy a house in Chapel Hill in the coming months. Do you have a house we might be interested in?
Sorry, jdatlas, but no luck here. We're renting currently. I would absolutely love to buy the home we're staying in right now, but the lovely lady who owns it intends to retire here in a year or two, so no such luck.
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Old 04-08-2007, 05:48 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill
1,246 posts, read 4,375,603 times
Reputation: 312
Default Oh well

Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsSteel View Post
This may seem a little off-topic now, but ...



Sorry, jdatlas, but no luck here. We're renting currently. I would absolutely love to buy the home we're staying in right now, but the lovely lady who owns it intends to retire here in a year or two, so no such luck.

Oh well. It was worth asking. I do hope you'll still be in Chapel Hill when we get down there as I know I'll need to pick someone's brains as I'm sure there is a lot I'll need to learn.
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