Posted on 01/23/2015 7:21:44 AM PST by george76
A week ago, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, a Democrat, called homelessness in his city and the rest of King County a "full-blown crisis." Based on the numbers presented in coverage of the area's situation, we can certainly add the Emerald City to the list of areas where homelessness has been on the rise. Odds are that many readers here didn't know that, because the national press hardly ever pays attention to homelessness when a Democrat occupies the White House.
Now imagine the firestorm which would erupt if a Republican or conservative proposed the "solution," however allegedly temporary, Murray is advancing .. : Seattle's mayor proposes new tent cities to deal with homelessness Seattle Mayor Ed Murray will submit legislation to the City Council this week seeking approval of three new homeless encampments, saying the tent cities are needed to deal with rising homelessness
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So there are already six "homeless encampments," better known as "tent cities." Now there will be nine — and this is considered a positive step. The Seattle Times reports that the homelessness numbers rose significantly from January 2013 to January 2014:
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There's strong reason to believe that the situation will continue to deterioriate, and that the nation's press will largely continue to ignore it if it indeed does. It's almost impossible to imagine the press cutting a big-city Republican any slack for expanding tent cities as a form of public policy, or the nation's press not tying situations like these back to a Republican or conservative presidential administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
I’ve thought about becoming homeless myself. Now that all the kids are grown and out the only thing stopping me from doing it is the fact that I have a wife.
If I were by myself I would quit my job and just travel to where ever I got the desire to go.
The increase in Urban Outdoorsmen is a sign of improved sustainable energy use.
Say, didn’t they just raise the min wage to $13/hr there? How in the heck could the homeless population be increasing then? Affluence should be on the rise.
If you are going to be homeless, choose a city where it doesn’t rain 24/7. San Diego comes to mind.
I’ve read in the past that many homeless people desire to be homeless.
“If you are going to be homeless, choose a city where it doesn’t rain 24/7. San Diego comes to mind.”
I dunno, Washington state has a high suicide rate, not wishing any ill will on anyone but the Seattle homeless problem may correct itself all by itself.
Before homelessness we had drifters, mass immigration and illegals killed the work that used to be available for a drifting man, and the closing of boarding houses and many cheap men’s living conditions, closed off housing for drifters.
Drifting was a good life when I was young, breezing into a new town, taking over the pool tables and the females, having fun for a week or two, or a month or two, and then moving on.
LOL! Screw responsibility! Maybe it’s not what it’s cracked up to be after all. Besides, there’s a lot of makers out there to pay to take care of them. There’s a pretty large number here in Reno as well. Why wouldn’t they hitch hike to a warmer climate?
I commute from NJ to NYC every day. When I get out at Penn Station and walk up to Sixth Ave, the entire city block of 33rd street is a homeless encampment. Been there for a couple of years now. Body after body of drug addicts and alcholics sleeping in a row under a pile of blankets. Garbage, shopping carts, dirty old suit cases line the block. Great first impression for people coming from out of state. That block used to be somewhat prominent. You have the side entrance of the Pennsylvania Hotel, the Manhattan Mall, a popular gym and a couple of fast food places on that same block. The block is covered by scaffolding. It’s truly surreal. Wish it was Giuliani time again cause it’s only going to get worse.
92 million adults are no longer in the work force. Now we can see where some of them are.
The homeless in Seattle are extremely aggressive. There’s an entirely separate bike-mounted police force to protect the citizens from the homeless.
I was in Seattle several years ago with the news on in the hotel. A woman who looked like a rich old hippie wailed, “We give them free medical, food and shelter. WHY is there still a homeless problem?!” I turned to see if the newsman laughed or flamed her. Nope, he nodded, agreeing that the problem was certainly unexpected.
Seattle has a growing homeless problem because they’re stupid. It’s the old story of putting out free birdseed, then complaining there are too many birds defecating on the sidewalk.
A basic axiom is that you have to parse “the homeless problem”.
To start with, *everybody* supports homeless families with young children. They are the most sympathetic, and the most likely to benefit from support of all kinds. And typically, they are short timers as homeless, before they get back on their feet.
The next group are problematic. The 14-25 age group, most of whom were raised by single parents, no longer wanted at home, runaways from an abusive home, and those caught up in claustrophobia and dead end lives, who see “the road” as offering better prospects. Often, outside of extreme weather, they do not *want* to sleep indoors for any length of time. As a group, they are intensely afraid of government and homeless shelters, and want nothing to do with either of them. Their attitude is, “If you don’t want to give me your spare change, then leave me the hell alone.”
3) The third group are addicts of all kinds, especially alcoholics, and the mentally ill. They tend to stay with their own kind. They really cannot stop being addicts until they are ready.
4) The older homeless make best use of shelters, and have given up trying to improve their lot. As a group they are pretty passive and try to avoid trouble.
“If I were by myself I would quit my job and just travel to where ever I got the desire to go.”
And you would probably live better than many in the middle class.
Morons cheered when this happened (literally cheered--see the video at the link)...
Enjoy your homelessness, Seattle. YOU aksed (yes, I said "aksed") for it.
$15 an hour. See link above.
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