Posted on 02/03/2016 1:16:21 AM PST by nickcarraway
Dozens of people who live on the streets will have to find some other place to sleep Tuesday night.
Early Tuesday morning, the city told them to move, but many of them said they donât know where to go.
âToday they came over here and told us it's time to move,â said Caen, who is homeless and lives in a tent and is part of the camp thatâs located under the west end of the Steel Bridge in Portland. âWhere are we supposed to move to?â
The City of Portland is trying to clear the area so that homeless people will be able to more easily access a storage container thatâs meant to help them keep their belongings safe while they work or look for jobs. The area will also have a bathroom, safe disposable containers for hypodermic needles and access to other resources in a few weeks.
Still, many people living in the area are unhappy about the move and say they're staying put.
âWe're willing to meet in the middle, but relocating to another spot, say for instance across the river? They're just going to make us move again to another location,â said Amanda who is also homeless and living under the Steel Bridge.
She and others living in the camp said there's been a lot of confusion about what they can and can't do.
âWe don't know exactly what is going on,â said Phillip Ogle, who is also homeless.
People we spoke with said they're getting different answers from different people.
âThe left hand needs to know what the right hand is doing,â Caen said.
They've heard the city will allow camping. However the mayor's office said they're only allowing small groups of campers, and the one under the Steel Bridge is just too big.
Still, the concern is if they move, they'll have to keep moving.
âThey never tell us where we can go,â said Caen.
The city said they understand that moving is a burden, but the space thatâs getting cleared out is meant for their benefit. According to the city, homeless people living in the area were told they'd have to leave weeks ago.
But what if people don't move? The city said outreach workers will help those who want to stay with other available options.
Meantime the mayor's office said they're trying to open up more shelter spaces in the city.
I'm willing to imagine they do bathe occasionally .... where?
You don't just exist without doing SOMEthing to maintain your life ... what IS it ?
I have never bought the homeless line .... not since I willfully went out on the streets myself in 69, 70 and 71
I frikkin' LOVED gettin' over by not working a traditional job, but sold handmade roach clips and panhandled
I rented a room for the winter months (Boston) and got back out on the street in May or so
I did take a clock puncher one winter for a few months in a mattress factory ... but as soon as it was hip eye time ... I was there
I knew a LOT of street peaple ... about half of 'em were cops of SOME kind, playin' the role, and I knew it and was able to converse with them ... which soon left because they couldn't be undercover anymore after befriending me
I learned SO much out there
NO ONE WAS OUT THERE BECAUSE OF SOME LANDLORD THROWING THEM OUT OR WHAT HAVE YOU ... EVERYBODY HAD CHOSEN THE LIFESTYLE
Try what works, say your are “Syrian unaccompanied minor” and see what happens.
Peace be upon you!
A good number of them are mentally ill.
and if so ... there are inside places for them
If they choose to go outside when inside is available ... IT'S THEIR CHOICE
Y'ain't never gonn'a get away from that ... I was there too deep and too long
God help them.. Many are on the streets by choice many are not.
Those pictures were Bush’s fault;) I predict homelessness will dominate the news starting just around January 21, 2017 and be the daily drumbeat for at least 4 years.
Maybe thirty years ago, that might have been the case. However, most homeless have drug addictions or mental.illnesses that impair their ability to live a stable lifestyle. They used to be psychiatric patients until Rivera loused things up for them.
Needles and containers for them are now a "resource". Sad.
-You don’t just exist without doing SOMEthing to maintain your life ... what IS it ?-
I was in a Seattle hotel listening to the news. They were discussing the homeless problem. The interview was of some uber-liberal woman who wailed, “We feed them. We clothe them and take care of their medical needs. Why! Why do we still have a homeless problem?” I stopped dressing to watch the reporter b*tchslap her. But he just murmured agreement.
They have a homeless problem because they want to have a homeless problem.
Incidentally, they should not be called homeless as that implies the problem is they are regular people but without a home. The problem is they are drug addicted or alcoholic or not sane. If society stopped caring for their physical needs then they would need to stop their addictions or starve and freeze. What we are doing by supporting these people is not kindness or compassion.
I am reminded of the several times I tried to get the company I worked for to arrange treatment for alcoholic employees, who, incidentally, were doing actual damage to the company. In every case the company enabled them to stay in their job until they died of alcohol related problems. In each case those who worked under them and with them breathed a long sigh of relief. The company was complicit in their deaths as far as I’m concerned.
Or else we'll put you in a warm room and feed you 3 meals a day.
Kinda like being Catholic?
I see...
Any fool KNOWS you will ALWAYS get more of what you subsidize.
Fatherless children are a BIG problem in America; yet we subsidize women to have the bastards (Damn Trump and his un-PC talk!)
You wanna have lots of pets?
Set a bowl of catfood outside your door at night.
"It's for the chilrun!"
IN a financial sense it was better to leave these alcoholics alone and let them crater on their own, rather then try to help them. Once identified, they cannot be discharged, must be treated with kid gloves.
Better to let them crash, pay the one time cost of the life insurance and their problem takes care of itself.
I’m not saying it right, but that is the calculus in the board room.
***Homeless have to eat ... who feeds them***
Reminds me of the “DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE! THEY WILL BECOME DEPENDENT ON YOU!” signs I often see.
Then there was my tour to the mission in Los Angeles in which within a few blocks you suddenly see lots of men sitting around doing nothing all day, just waiting for their free three meals a day.
Give them a one-way bus ticket to some “sanctuary” city.
Says who ? Says people who actively deal with them. The worst thing that was done was getting rid of state hospital/institution facilities and setting them loose.
It’s clear that those that choose to stay out in the middle of winter are not of sound mind (although some do cite legitimate concerns of being robbed or worse in a homeless shelter).
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