Possessions Chicago says the homeless can and can't have

Chicago Tribune ^ | 11/08/2015 | Lara Weber, John J Kim

[simpson96]

The weather was still warm last week when we visited with about a dozen people camped on a parkway west of the Wilson Avenue viaduct under Lake Shore Drive. A few sat chatting in a circle of lawn chairs. Another group grilled spiced chicken. Homeless, they told us they were confused about where they are allowed to sleep at night and whether they are allowed to pitch tents.(snip)

Chicago settled a class-action lawsuit in January that had been filed on behalf of a group of homeless residents who alleged that Chicago police and other city workers destroyed their personal property, particularly along Lower Wacker Drive and in the vicinity of the Wilson Avenue viaduct under Lake Shore Drive. As part of the settlement, the city and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, working for the claimants, developed a list of "personal portable possessions" that homeless people in those two areas would be allowed to keep with them.

In recent months, tensions have flared in Uptown, near the Wilson Avenue viaduct, over the terms of the settlement and conflicting interpretations of where the homeless community can sleep and what belongings they can have.

What's allowed as "portable personal possessions":

1 sleeping bag or bedroll

5 blankets (from October through April, five additional blankets and one extra sleeping bag or bedroll are allowed)

2 coats

2 pairs of shoes or boots

3 bags or suitcases (and the contents contained within)

Not allowed:

Non-air mattresses, box springs, potted plants, crates, large appliance boxes, carts, gurneys, wagons or furniture.

[DungeonMaster]

Possession, ironic choice of words.

[Revelation 911]

Lower Wacker Drive?

Isn't the Blues Bros orphanage down that way?

[MaskedMan]

Not to worry folks - a list of acceptable possessions will be coming to us all one day soon if things continue in this country as they are. Along with lists of acceptable vocabulary, acceptable gestures, acceptable appearances, acceptable thoughts, etc, etc....

[smokingfrog]

That’s really going to put the brakes on my Potted Plants for the Poor charity project.

[Vigilanteman]

Aren't Libtards the best? They create homeless by closing the mental institutions which MIGHT turn them into someone self-sustaining and then they STILL want to micromanage their lives.

I'd love to read the entire article, but it forces you to pay money to another libtard rag if you want to continue.

[heartwood]

If you the homeless to have portable possessions, instead of fixed encampments, it’s kind of hard to move a bedroll, an air mattress, five blankets, three suitcases, and an extra pair of boots, without a cart of some kind.

[SkyDancer]

That’s unacceptable.

[dfwgator]

“And that’s the only thing I need is *this*. I don’t need this or this. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game. - The ashtray and the paddle game and that’s all I need... And this remote control. - The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that’s all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp. - The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that’s all *I* need. And that’s *all* I need too. I don’t need one other thing, not one... I need this. - The paddle game and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I’m some kind of a jerk or something! - And this. That’s all I need.”

[IamConservative]

Would appear the homeless are not allowed to have any clothing besides a coat and boots.

[Travis T. OJustice]

The orphanage is supposedly in Calumet City, but the Cook County Assesors office, where they have to pay the tax, is less than 3 blocks off of it.

[xp38]

Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and nice red uniforms

[Bringbackthedraft]

Homelessness in A Democratic Controlled City? I thought homelessness was only an issue when the Republicans were in control.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

If you the homeless to have portable possessions, instead of fixed encampments, it’s kind of hard to move a bedroll, an air mattress, five blankets, three suitcases, and an extra pair of boots, without a cart of some kind

Don't you see? It's all part of the plan. We have a government whose #1 job is to ensure that there's some law, no matter how obscure or absurd, they can find every one of us guilty of being in violation of.

[mosesdapoet]

This area is on Chicagos northside well north of the Loop and BoulMich biz districts. In the Uptown neighborhood and about 20 blocks away from lower Wacker Drive