Posted on 08/11/2009 8:56:35 AM PDT by BGHater
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Last summer, police responding to complaints about campfires under a highway overpass found dozens of homeless people living on public land along the Cumberland River.
Eviction notices went up -- and then were suspended by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, a Democrat, who said housing for the homeless should be found first.
A year later, little has been found -- and Nashville, with help from local nonprofits, is now servicing a tent city, arranging for portable toilets, trash pickup, a mobile medical van and visits from social workers. Volunteers bring in firewood for the camp's 60 or so dwellers.
Nashville is one of several U.S. cities that these days are accommodating the homeless and their encampments, instead of dispersing them. With local shelters at capacity, "there is no place to put them," said Clifton Harris, director of Nashville's Metropolitan Homeless Commission, says of tent-city dwellers.
In Florida, Hillsborough County plans to consider a proposal Tuesday by Catholic Charities to run an emergency tent city in Tampa for more than 200 people. Dave Rogoff, the county health and services director, said he preferred to see a "hard roof over people's heads." But that takes real money, he said: "We're trying to cut $110 million out of next year's budget."
Ontario, a city of 175,000 residents about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, provides guards and basic city services for a tent city on public land.
A church in Lacey, Wash., near the state capital of Olympia, recently started a homeless camp in its parking lot after the city changed local ordinances to permit it. The City Council in Ventura, Calif., last month revised its laws to permit sleeping in cars overnight in some areas.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Obamavilles......
Some of them don’t “look” like the usual suspects (drunks, druggies, schizos).
Guess it’s time to relearn the lyrics to “Old Shantytown”
“Obamavilles” anyone?
I call them ‘O’rphans.
Gee,this is the outcome of wall street and the bankers robbing people of their wealth.I have never seen so many people homeless in my area than now.
Enviro-criminals, call Algore, just think about all that carbon!!!! This is hugh and series.
Actually, Tipper Gore dutifully visited the “homeless” under a Nashville bridge while wearing high heels causing her to carry one shoe back up the bank.
I'll say this about the Gores and their huge home in Nashville and huge house boat on Center Hill Lake. They are perfect hypocrites. When we go to Center Hill we put in canoes and paddle and snorkel and fish. Al on the other hand has mega diesel engines but tries to say it is a Green boat because he has a couple of solar cells on it. “Green is for thee not me” should be the Gore motto.
How about the US returning to utilizing ‘poor-farms’?
This news coverage would only be in the WSJ.
I remember when the Clintons took over, media mentions of homelessness suddenly disappeared. Under GHWBush it was always big news.
you see, I just don’t see the allure of Nashville.....probably didn’t get a good luck but it seems like just a dirty town....
As a lifelong resident, I can say it’s like most any other city, it has good and has bad. I wouldn’t classify it as a “dirty” town, though.
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