Obvious RW Troll (alerted!) talks about homelessness... (not Bobo the hobo)

[dutch508]

evertonfc (63 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212394611

Homelessness
I travel to LA frequently, have family in the area and absolutely love the city. I just returned and spent time in the Hollywood area. The homeless problem is quite stunning and seems to be worsening. I heard lots of tourists discussing it and spoke with two business owners who are considering moving thier shops due to tents up and down the sidewalks. In some areas off Vine/Sunset, the homeless simply pitch a tent and then scatter thier belongings for feet up and down side walk.I saw one gentleman in one spot the entire 4 days. You physically could not go around him. I go out 2-3 times per year and it's worsening. My sister, who lives in Veince ( 15 years now) said at times, the streets there look like a campground. A very complex problem but my guess is there will be a breaking point with residents. They are all fairly accommodating at moment- far more than most communities anyway

 

leftieNanner (2,809 posts)

1. My sister lives in Chico

And the entire downtown area is nearly impassable now. Business owners arrive in the morning to open up and they find people sleeping in their doorways, or worse - feces in the doorway. The city is trying to fix the problem, but there are no easy answers.

My small city has problems in this area too.

Star Member cwydro (32,889 posts)

3. I visited Seattle for the first time this past spring.

The homelessness problem was really shocking to me.

Star Member Wellstone ruled (25,547 posts)

5. We are seeing the results of Republican Economic Policies now having a major impact on the Social Ills of our Nation. Federal Dollars to Cities and Counties that helped people down on the luck are now gone. The Social Welfare Saftey Net is long gone thanks to the likes of Paul Ryan and his gang of right wing fundies.

When affordable Housing has a two year waiting list and the Racist Rapist in Chief is killing off any funding,what do you expect. The local Fundie White folks are not going to spend any of their Dollars to help alleviate this problem as their Retug Representatives said they would.

  why is it only Blue State Hellholes?

Star Member Blue_true (16,021 posts)

15. It is not that simple.

Cities like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, even Oakland now, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Boston, DC are expensive because there are plenty of people in those places making large salaries. The market chase people that can afford high rents and squeeze out everyone else.

The only way to fix the problem is for cities to buy up properties and lower rents dramatically. High paid people will make out like bandits on rent, but lesser paid people will have a roof over their heads. The problems with such a setup is economic snobbery (well paid people not wanting to live around lesser paid people) and official corruption that always is possible with publicly owned trusts.

Star Member chowder66 (3,161 posts)

8. I live in Hollywood and there are camps all around. It's a complicated situation.

and yes the neighbors are upset. Crime and sanitation is a huge issue. The police aren't really able to do much so residents pool their money to purchase private security around their neighborhoods.

I moved in when the area was still a little dodgy but then it got a lot nicer. It was pretty nice for about 15 years.
As soon as they started developing Hollywood the crime started increasing and has exploded in the last 5 years or so but that was also when they cleared out skid-row downtown but as more people come into Hollywood for the night life, more people find our neighborhoods to ransack.

A lot of foreigners buy up property here and shut out residents which is another problem. Airbnb didn't help matters either. It helps some
who can get extra income but not everyone has a two bedroom apartment or home to let out. Most don't. Renters are getting kicked out, pushed out and bought out. Some are ending up homeless.

Having nice year round weather adds to all of this as well.

Joe941 (1,740 posts)

11. As is the aften the case socialism has the answer...

Guaranteed minimum income for every american would go a long way to solving this problem. Listen to bernie.

 

maveric (16,116 posts)

12. We have that same problem in San Diego.

It’s really sad when you go downtown. People everywhere standing around, living in tents or blankets. Really sad. Local news did a story on homelessness. Supposedly 10,000 people on the streets down here. LA has about 20,000. It’s terrible.Some of these people have jobs but can’t afford the Sky-high rents in SD and are forced to live on their cars.
There is a big problem in this country and not much is being done about it.

maxsolomon (19,352 posts)

16. Welcome to Urban America

I am in Seattle; we think we have the largest homeless population in the nation, and people are at each other's throats over who's to blame and what to do.

Then I went back to Cincy for the 1st time in 3 years. I saw things I'd never seen: women begging at freeway exits, homeless in the neighborhood I grew up in, a revitalizing downtown neighborhood taking several steps backward.

I keep telling people in Seattle: this is a national crisis, we're not the exception, and no one is talking about it at the Federal level. Least of all President Sociopath.

 

[USA4ME]

Democrats have no incentive to find a solution since they know the affected areas will continue to vote for more Democrats. Keep doing the same things and you’ll get the same results.

.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Star Member Wellstone ruled (25,547 posts)

5. We are seeing the results of Republican Economic Policies now having a major impact on the Social Ills of our Nation

As mentioned by Dutch, Democrats run those shitholes/places.

Secondly, the libs are all claiming that this is Obama's great economy.  If you believe that, then he owns the homeless epidemic.

[SVPete]

I keep telling people in Seattle: this is a national crisis, we're not the exception, and no one is talking about it at the Federal level. Least of all President Sociopath.

It is not a Federal problem, other than any 1960s-1970s Federal laws there might be that increase the difficulty of the involuntary commitment process (I think this is a largely state law problem).

States have made involuntary commitment of the insane extremely difficult.

States and cities have been refraining from enforcing drug laws, or simply legalizing/decriminalizing selected drugs.

States have made themselves social program magnets.

Cities have chosen not to enforce - or repealed - their vagrancy laws.

Cities have chosen to enable homelessness by encouraging or operating homeless shelters.

Cities have chosen to enable addictive drug use through needle "exchange" programs that are actually free needle programs.

States and cities have chosen to increase the scarcity - and therefore the cost - of housing through anti-growth and enviro laws and through screw-the-developers regulations and fees and overlapping permit processes.

States and cities have chosen to dumb down school academics and waste classroom time through mandated activist-driven social-programming subjects.

Bums and alkies have probably been around the US since 1776, and the drug-dependent probably since the 1860s, if not earlier. Homelessness, to use the current euphemism, predates Donald Trump's birth by centuries. States and cities used to discourage it, but have been encouraging it and enabling it since the Dems decided in the 1980s - against Reagan - to exploit the sacred homeless for political gain.

[DefiantSix]

Star Member Wellstone ruled (25,547 posts)

5. We are seeing the results of Republican Economic Policies now having a major impact on the Social Ills of our Nation. Federal Dollars to Cities and Counties that helped people down on the luck are now gone. The Social Welfare Saftey Net is long gone thanks to the likes of Paul Ryan and his gang of right wing fundies.

When affordable Housing has a two year waiting list and the Racist Rapist in Chief is killing off any funding,what do you expect. The local Fundie White folks are not going to spend any of their Dollars to help alleviate this problem as their Retug Representatives said they would.

  why is it only Blue State Hellholes?

Because the eee-vil RethugliKKKans want to punish valiant Progressive enclaves who resist their corrupt agenda. Duh... [/DUmbass]