So, is the new homeless policy going to help???

[DirtMagurt]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

It reminds of the summers Downtown a couple of years ago when the police were issuing citations to tourists and other folks that decided to cross the streets on their own instead of waiting for the walking signal. MOST people in CA know to wait your turn to walk across, unless you are from NYC where playing dodgeball with the cars is a lifestyle.

It's not just NYC. The concept of actually standing there at a crosswalk and waiting for a signal is going to take some getting used to. Places like Minneapolis, Chicago, ATL, etc., if I'm halfway down the block and there is a break in traffic, I'm going for it without a second thought.

couldn't figure out why I was getting funny looks from people in California until a very nice Pasadena police officer set me straight. Going to be a tough habit to break.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by DirtMagurt

It's not just NYC. The concept of actually standing there at a crosswalk and waiting for a signal is going to take some getting used to. Places like Minneapolis, Chicago, ATL, etc., if I'm halfway down the block and there is a break in traffic, I'm going for it without a second thought.

couldn't figure out why I was getting funny looks from people in California until a very nice Pasadena police officer set me straight. Going to be a tough habit to break.

In the Bay Area you just go for it too most of the time. That sucks what happened to you in Pasadena. In Seattle you had better not cross against the light. They're Nazi about that up there. I don't think SD has a big problem either way with this.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by DirtMagurt

It's not just NYC. The concept of actually standing there at a crosswalk and waiting for a signal is going to take some getting used to. Places like Minneapolis, Chicago, ATL, etc., if I'm halfway down the block and there is a break in traffic, I'm going for it without a second thought.

couldn't figure out why I was getting funny looks from people in California until a very nice Pasadena police officer set me straight. Going to be a tough habit to break.

lol.

I was THAT guy when I was living in Copenhagen for a few months. My first day there, I was wondering why everyone was standing at the crosswalk when there were 0 cars coming down the road. So, I crossed without hesitation to only come notice everyone on the other side of the street staring in horror in my direction. I looked behind me and saw no one except the other group of folks at that crosswalk. I quickly realized, that I was THAT guy.
Fortunately someone was kind of enough to tell the unknowing tourist aka me, that its a pretty heavy fine in DK. Point taken.

These days, when traveling, to see what the "norm" is for crossing the road.

[DirtMagurt]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

In the Bay Area you just go for it too most of the time. That sucks what happened to you in Pasadena. In Seattle you had better not cross against the light. They're Nazi about that up there. I don't think SD has a big problem either way with this.

Nah, the officer was great. He instantly knew I wasn't from around there. Sounds like it's a big issue in Pasadena every January with Texans and midwesterners wandering around in traffic. It might sound odd but in the three opportunities I've had to get ticketed by CHP (plus the Pasadena cop) for something or other, they're about the nicest officers I've ever run across.

I didn't pay too much attention but when we were staying at the Omni and running around gaslamp, I don't think we were the only ones diving through traffic but who knows if the others were tourists.

sort of off topic, but what's with all the Brazilians? I'm not complaining, mind you, the women are just absurdly good looking but at least two of the places we stopped in for drinks had Brazilian bartenders. At least I think they were Brazilian, maybe Portugese. That's not something you run into often in the US.

[DirtMagurt]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

lol.

I was THAT guy when I was living in Copenhagen for a few months. My first day there, I was wondering why everyone was standing at the crosswalk when there were 0 cars coming down the road. So, I crossed without hesitation to only come notice everyone on the other side of the street staring in horror in my direction. I looked behind me and saw no one except the other group of folks at that crosswalk. I quickly realized, that I was THAT guy.
Fortunately someone was kind of enough to tell the unknowing tourist aka me, that its a pretty heavy fine in DK. Point taken.

These days, when traveling, to see what the "norm" is for crossing the road.

lol, no doubt. The only other place I've ever seen or heard of people getting cracked for jaywalking is in Edmonton where they set up sting operations (I kid you not) and hand out fines to the tune of 250 loonies to unsuspecting tourists. Receiving one of those will get anybody's attention.

[tickyul]

Originally Posted by madegood

Permanent homes for the homeless is the only real solution. That includes job placement, rehab, mental health services (among other things) for those who will benefit from it.

Not likely in a broke city in a broke state in a broke country.

This latest move will likely just make ticketed people who are recognizable or who carry ID elude the cops (and stay out of sight). The goal is likely to force homeless populations to disperse and spread out into less visible/commercial areas so there's no noticeable "skid row" in the finest city.

Well, if San Diego put up all of the bums populating the county....let's see.....how many....9000....yikes...we would be how much deeper in the hole.

And you start something like that and word gets out on the Bum Network (Yes, these people spend much of their day using free internet access at the library), we would have Urban Campers from all over the nation coming to make use of the Cities generosity.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by DirtMagurt

sort of off topic, but what's with all the Brazilians? I'm not complaining, mind you, the women are just absurdly good looking but at least two of the places we stopped in for drinks had Brazilian bartenders. At least I think they were Brazilian, maybe Portugese. That's not something you run into often in the US.

DirtMagurt,

I'm not sure about San Diego but I know many other places I go lately there are TONS of Brazilians. I really doubt they were Portuguese. The thing is the economy is booming in Brazil. Before, the US immigration didn't give out so many tourist visas or working visas but I've noticed the past few years that has changed. I have a lot of friends in Brazil and they are all reporting that it's much easier now to get tourist visas.

I'm not sure if all those girls have working visas however. When I lived in Dallas, I met quite a few girls from Brazil that were here on tourist visas but they overstayed their visas and all of them seemed to find jobs in restaurants or bars.

But I noticed the same thing for Americans getting visas for Brazil now that Brazil will have the World Cup and the Olympics coming up. Before it was a major hassle to get a visa to visit Brazil as they would only give 90 days visas or maximum 1 year at a time. Many years ago, I scored a 5 year visa but then they stopped giving those out. But I recently went to go get a new tourist visa for Brazil and they were giving everyone in line 10 year tourist visas as they finally figured out these people will spend tons of money while on vacation.

You're right about the girls from Brazil being some of the most beautiful in the world. (The way you put it "absurdly good looking" is spot on target!!). Just look at the # of supermodels and how many are from Brazil. My ex girlfriend was from Brazil so i've been there over 25 times. Amazing how much their country is growing.

But it's super expensive now. I was just in Sao Paulo on business and it's crazy expensive. Taxis were more expensive than Manhattan. Food in restaurants was really expensive. And I was looking at apartments to buy and nothing special 1 bedroom apartments in the Jardins neighborhood were going for about $300,000 US!

Same in Rio where things are crazy expensive now. I bought an apartment with my ex-girlfriend in Rio back in 2002 and it's skyrocketed in value now. That country has really got it's stuff together the past few years.

I think you will start to see more and more Brazilians traveling. I've noticed that trend lately in my travels as I'm hearing more and more Portuguese. My family and I were vacationing in Bariloche, Argentina a few months ago and probably 70% of the tourists we saw were from Brazil.... Portuguese was all were were hearing...