Posted on 08/06/2003 6:28:27 AM PDT by jgrubbs
Vegas rated nation's 'meanest city' for homeless
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - It's been called sinful and decadent. Now the city of Las Vegas has been dubbed the meanest in America for homeless people.
A report issued Tuesday by the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless ranked the city at the top of its list of "Meanest Cities" based largely on "dozens of downtown `sweeps' in which jaywalking, pedestrian obstruction, and other quality-of-life ordinances were used as an excuse to stop people and 'clean up' the area."
But city officials discounted the report, saying it includes factual errors and relies too heavily on media reports instead of law enforcement statistics.
Titled "Illegal to Be Homeless: The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States," the report looked at "anti-homeless laws" in 147 cities, enforcement and penalties and whether the political climate was hostile to the homeless.
The rankings also took into account whether local activists or organizations supported the "mean" designation and whether additional legislation to criminalize the homeless was pending in each city, the report said.
"(Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman) has been cited on a number of occasions as mean-spirited and the source of the mischaracterization of homeless people that leads to the sweeps," said Donald Whitehead, the coalition's executive director.
The report points to Goodman's remarks in his 2002 State of the City address, when he said the homeless were "robbing people, raping people and killing their own."
The coalition has cited the remark before, and the mayor has said his remarks weren't directed at all homeless people.
Goodman said the report failed to mention the city's programs to help the homeless, which have cost more than $7 million in the five years he has been in office.
"The report has factual errors and misrepresents the support the city has provided to homeless persons," Goodman said in a statement. "The city of Las Vegas is the only place in the valley where a homeless person can find shelter. We are committed to improving the lives of every resident."
Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said the city's top ranking was not a surprise.
"Anybody who has been paying attention to what has been going on with regard to civil liberties in the last couple of years can understand why we haven't come out favorably in this report," Peck said. "The city has a pattern of aggressively enforcing quality of life ordinances in a discriminatory way."
But Linda Lera-Randle El, director of the nonprofit Straight from the Streets, said she is unsure Las Vegas is the meanest city.
"It falls in line with all the cities all over the country that are frustrated with the issue," she said.
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According to National Coalition for the Homeless
12 Meanest Cities List:
Meanest State:
Ok, where do they show up on the list? Instead, this seems to be a list for the most hospitable homeless cities and states.
Look at California, homeless capital of the united States. And which town lists itself at the top as the "Meanest"? San Francisco.
Interesting also to note that out of these cities, many, like Austin, Honolulu, New York, San Francisco are socialist bastions of their region.
I am truly startled to see Palm Beach County on the map, because Belle Glade's population might as well be homeless considering what kind of toilet that town is.
Their newest August 5th report changes to:
20 Meanest Cities
1. Las Vegas
2. San Francisco
3. New York City
4. Los Angeles
5. Atlanta
6. Cincinnati
7. Key West
8. Austin
9. Orlando
10. New Orleans
11. Sacramento
12. Milwaukee
13. Santa Cruz
14. Miami Beach
15. Jacksonville Beach
16. Hollywood, FL
17. Santa Monica
18. Nashville
19. Honolulu
20. Boulder
Meanest States
1. California
2. Florida
According to this "update", Baltimore, Chicago, Palm Beach County, Pontiac and Salt Lake City has gotten downright friendly, or other towns are now cracking down on Homelessness.
Here is my theory. This list is a shakedown list, a concept pioneered by Jesse Jackson. Your city shows up on this list, and the blacks and other poverty pimps will start trashing the city until they are paid to remove your town's name from the list.
Percentage of Cities Banning Activities
| "Banned" Activities | % |
| Obstruction of Sidewalks/Public Places | 89.4 |
| Closure of Particular Public Places | 69.1 |
| Loitering in Particular Public Places | 55.3 |
| Begging in Particular Public Places | 53.2 |
| Urination/Defecation in Public | 53.2 |
| Sleeping in Particular Public Places | 51.1 |
| "Aggressive" Panhandling | 50.0 |
| Camping in Particular Public Places | 47.9 |
| Sitting/Lying in Particular Public Places | 44.7 |
| Bathing in Public Waters | 38.3 |
| Begging City-wide | 30.9 |
| Camping City-wide | 26.6 |
| Loitering City-wide | 19.1 |
| Sleeping City-wide | 19.1 |
Now who here (other than Liberals and Libertarians) have a problem with these cities?
Personally, I would like to see more cities banning these activities, particularly "Urination/Defecation in Public".
I'd think that many cities fall into either of these two categories: (1) urination and defecation in public is already banned by state law, therefore a city ordinance is unnecessary and duplicitous; or (2) the city is so small (i.e., Lexington, Virginia, population 6,000) that this activity has never been a problem, hence no one has thought to pass legislation banning it.
Yeah, they magically got jobs when Klinton seized power after mean-old Reagan/Bush kicked them out of their homes.
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