Austin wants to ban 'Homeless Camping' again

[JDub]

I've traveled extensively over the years and it's been obvious things are sliding in terms of safety and tolerance when it comes to folks who are simply "adrift". I agree with you BF. It's past the point of of a few folks sleeping overnight somewhere. It's turned into an avalanche and where the worst of it is lies in the cities. I'd never willing stay just anywhere in an urban area anymore. Simply too dangerous without knowing "the lay of the land". I'm very fortunate to be able to stay out of the big urban areas and simply camp in and enjoy the "nice" rural parts of the country.

IMHO one of the things that would be most valuable here on this website would be an ongoing warning thread/method about current situation and dangers in the urban city landscapes. I know that there are similar threads but something dedicated like an "Amber Alert" system sent to subscribing site members might be something to consider. Cost? I'd be happy to pay a reasonable fee while traveling to receive alerts about various areas or regions I'm headed to. Things are NOT getting better. They're going the other way...

Cheers

 

[HappyLife1977]

With covid restrictions lifting (or not, if you read the morning news, they can't make up their minds) the mandate against evicting people directly affected by covid cases is going to switch off. That means
Cities are expecting a flash flood of homelessness, plus that other little elephant in the room adding to the strain in the bigger magnet cities. 
Not to nag but some rules We follow.  Oldsters know these but we're not all dinosaurs here.
 Know your rights and know your city if they are on line, keep your ID, registration and insurance current and handy. Take your keys from the ignition and set them where the officer can see them, put your empty hands on the wheel and be attentive and polite.  After the general wth, politely ask for safe parking for a night, or the best way to get somewhere like a good garage (if your vehicle is running fine, just tell them you want something checked or to pick up something you do need like wipers or spare fuses, whatever) or camp ground.  Extra for covid, only roll your window down to eyebrow level.  
And frankly, we're getting some sort of shoulder camera before we leave our safe area.  Turn it on when the lights flash or we get the slow cruise.  
Over all, (she said blaming it on the caffine kicking in and being a lectur-ouse old lady) don't set up your mattress on a city side walk!

 

[user 37446]

Great idea in concept, but who's going to pay for trash removal services? We're talking about people who have pretty much zero resources. It's hard to care about things like trash and where you relieve yourself when you're literally one freezing cold night away from death and not a penny to your name. Personally, I think society as a whole should collectively take better care of the people that exist within it, and that includes the less fortunate and the absolute rock-bottom poor. If we suck so bad as a society that we have billionaires AND homeless people and we'll complain about the mess homeless people make but won't make a sincere effort to solve a simple problem like trash removal and porta potties, then we deserve ****-littered streets IMO. This country CAN afford to solve these problems. We just choose not to. We like to complain about things instead of executing real solutions, especially if >gasp< solving a problem means spending a dime of taxpayer money.

I'd be happy to pay $20 a month more on a city/town water/sewer/trash bill if the community would hire workers and go around and collect it th trash, service porta-potties and maintain clean water stations.

Elk Grove, Ca hires homeless in the tent camps (they use credit cards that are preloaded and have restrictions) and that is making a difference in their city. (April 11, 2021 article - look it up yourself)
"We distribute trash bags, and we go out every two weeks to pick up the trash, and if they have it bagged, they are eligible for up to $20 in gift cards to a grocery store,” Bontrager said.
The gift cards can be used on anything except cigarettes and alcohol.
The program has built a bridge with the homeless population, Bontrager said. Some participants have been able to find housing. Many others have been thankful to not have to rely on shelters or other groups for items they can pick out themselves.
It has also saved the city money. Nearly $10,000 of its $15,000 budget has been spent. Bontrager estimated the cost is about $1,000 each time the city has to send a crew to clean the area."  End of coppied portion.

Chasing the homeless to another area (like towns used to), arresting them (well the criminal portion yes) and being unwilling to provide a safe and policed/picked up place for them just causes the problem to grow.
We will always have homeless, mentally ill and drifters. Always have, it's just more in the open now. It's a price of being in a first world nation that we concern ourselves with the issue. 3rd world nations don't do anything and lovely places like China "re-educate" them.

I don't care what your politics are, there's no reason for city streets to be crapped on/in and needles/syringes to be scattered about. Get it picked up daily and at least the dangerous and sickness breeding part will be gone. Maybe portable toilets like construction zones have. There's so many ways to mitigate the mess and yet I don't think cities are doing very much.

If I were a business owner in these cities with people blocking access to my shop/store and the squalid conditions I'd be livid and probably the business would be broke. We currently have a national government willing to shovel monopoly money towards cities, hopefully the city leaders will do something correct with it all.

 

[user 37446]

^^^I agree but after a career as a teacher in poor areas there aren’t very many people that given an opportunity when motivated or not become better people and live much better lives. The military was really my salvation even though not what I thought to be a good choice at the time as it allowed me to go on to college and be able to survive in this world rather than die of lung disease from the coal mines and steel mills or drugs after their demise as many of my friends and family did, many spent their last days in prison due to drug charges, talk about handing out money, what a waste. I’m a firm believer in education both vocational and academic as well as mandatory public or military service to help people get moving forward. A living wage is just that without it all your choices are bad ones.

Ha ha you are mirrowing my story. Military at 17 for 22 years then 20 yrs a teacher in title 1 schools.
18/20 years was in special education and I couldn't understand why there wasn't more vocational training courses. Our "progressive" superintendent in 2000 gutted the HS vocational classes because she thought "everyone should go to college".
Stupid. So many of my boys dropped out at 16 (it was legal to then) and went to work but most had no skills and thus fell prey to gangs.

 

[highdesertranger]

Please stay on topic or this thread will be closed. Highdesertranger