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Street Life in California


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California has the most homeless people of any state.

Nearly 69 percent of California’s 130,000 homeless individuals were unsheltered, meaning they slept on the streets, in cars or abandoned buildings. It also found California had the highest rate of unsheltered people in the nation. :(

 

 

 

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San Francisco claims that reports of the city spending $36,000 a year for each homeless person are false.

 

San Francisco reports having over 8,000 homeless.

 

San Francisco reports spending $300 million a year on the homeless.

 

Do the math.  ($300 million ÷ 8,000 = $37,500)

 

Um... are they spending wisely...?  :huh:

 

During my "tenure" in the City, I saw it devolve from a few winos south of Market Street to the start of what it's become today.  I watched the once beautiful, world-class United Nations Plaza degenerate from the equal of any European square to a tent city, with it's reflecting pool eventually torn out after becoming laundry/bath/toilet.  :(

 

Walking from the BART station to my office building I would pass a classic old hotel on Market Street.  Often there would be a tour bus parked at the curb, with people milling about before boarding.  And there would usually be a handful of people sitting on the sidewalk, leaning back against the brick wall.  As I'd walk past them, dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase, I'd smile and suggest "if you good people knew what those stains were, you might not care to sit there..."  Inevitably, they'd look at me (sometimes someone would have to translate what I'd said), tentatively glance at the aforementioned discoloring of the sidewalk and bricks, then yelp and leap to their feet, attempting to brush their bottoms with their hands, then look at their hands with blended expressions of disgust and dismay.  

 

I wuz so mean.  :rolleyes:

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1 minute ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

San Francisco claims that reports of the city spending $36,000 a year for each homeless person are false.

 

San Francisco reports having over 8,000 homeless.

 

San Francisco reports spending $300 million a year on the homeless.

 

Do the math.  ($300 million ÷ 8,000 = $37,500)

 

Um... are they spending wisely...?  :huh:

 

All they'd have to do is give each homeless person a $37,500 salary and they'd be better off than I am. :(

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There is a rising industry reaping beau coup tax dollars regarding “homeless” in California. The goal is not to actually do anything. The goal is to make money talking about the problem and to expand funding to do more talking about doing something. Oh sure, there are well meaning folks trying to fix it but things don’t get fixed when their is money to be made. Especially if the government is controlling contracts and funding.

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6 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

 

All they'd have to do is give each homeless person a $37,500 salary and they'd be better off than I am. :(

 

They could give them the money with the stipulation they live elsewhere - the "homeless" could be established in homes away from the city, the city would be clean, everyone would be happy, except for the hapless taxpayers... who are gonna get screwed anyway.  :mellow:

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I recently had Federal Jury Duty; so, I had to go to downtown Sacramento. I saw several camps. Some were under Interstate 5, which is near the river. I also, saw the police clearing one out near UC Sacramento, which was also near another river.

 

They recently took out the mall downtown as homeless stayed in doorways. I walked by pee on the sidewalks from parking under I. 5 to the Courthouse.

 

I'm glad we got out of downtown Sacramento and that I no longer had to walk to work in the dark.

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Knoxville, TN’s mayor race is up for grabs this fall. We actually have two decent candidates from which to choose. My wife and I have homelessness as our litmus test. 

 

It’s complicated. We understand, and have sympathy for the mentally ill, but we want to walk downtown without them sleeping on benches. 

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20 minutes ago, J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE said:

Well the climate in Cali is more suited to living outdoors than say Buffalo, NY.  It would be interesting to know where the homeless people originated.  Did other cities give homeless people bus tickets and spending money to leave town?

 

A very interesting question.  

 

During an interview on June 23, the governor stated "the vast majority of San Francisco's homeless people come from Texas."

 

'Tain't so.

 

From the City of San Francisco's own very thorough (and expensive) study, the profile of the homeless population's origins is thus:

 

70% Living in San Francisco at the time they became homeless.  

22% Other counties in California

  8% Other states

 

Way to go, Gav...  :rolleyes:

 

SOURCE (See Page 18)

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Back in the mid 90's the city government of Kansas City, Mo. built two apartment complexes for the poor. Of course this was in the inner-city. The price of each complex was $960,000 and each one held 10 residence rooms. Now doing the math that came out to each apartment costing $96,000. I worked for a living and never dreamed of having a home in that price range. When I pointed that out to a few fellow police officers, none of us were very happy. We had a heck of a job and none had a house that cost that amount.

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29 minutes ago, J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE said:

Well the climate in Cali is more suited to living outdoors than say Buffalo, NY.  It would be interesting to know where the homeless people originated.  Did other cities give homeless people bus tickets and spending money to leave town?

 

Well, Seattle's homeless migrated from all over the USA due to word getting around that Seattle was the go-to place if you were homeless. The city pledged a ton of money to help them and only managed to attract more of them from every state in the Union. You can't simply throw money at the problem and expect it to go away. As Seattle has demonstrated (and yet still fail to acknowledge) is that the more you spend on the problem the worse it gets. These people need a hand UP, not a handout. Money needs to be spent on getting these folks back to work, or else finding other ways to deal with them if they're mentally ill.

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16 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

SF could save money by giving them a bud ticket to Seattle

They already do that!  Or they did it anyway, it was a big news story here in Seattle about a year and a half ago, SF (and I believe Portland OR did the same) had a "ticket home" program, free bus ticket out of town.  To either Seattle or Spokane

 

Seattle is overrun with homeless, it's a real crisis up here.

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That's how most got here from other city's! via Grayhound. As long as they can get handouts there here to stay.

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No different here on  East Coast.

 

Philadelphia ships to Wilmington

Wilmington then ships to Baltimore

Baltimore then ships to Newport News

Newport News then ships to Asheville

Asheville then ships to Charleston........rinse and repeat.

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