DUmmy Straight Story kpetes a newspaper story about winos panhandling in San Bernardino.
DUmmy Straight Story's best threads came when he was panhandling the DUmp for money to take his ex-wife skydiving. It really tugged the heartstrings.
Sun Feb 10, 2013, 12:08 PM
The Straight Story (39,215 posts)
Forget gangs and drugs, you need to be worried about panhandling
SAN BERNARDINO - The panhandlers who crowd busy intersections and shopping lots are a sign of the city's decline and a contributor to it, many say, and are more of a problem to them than drastic cutbacks of city services or rising crime.
"Panhandling is the No. 1 reason people give for leaving San Bernardino," said City Attorney James F. Penman. "Panhandling is a chronic problem with this city. It goes right to the quality of life."
Police say they've gotten the message and are fine-tuning a plan to address panhandling.
"This issue has created a significant hurdle for our ultimate goal of creating a safer city," said police Lt. Mike Madden, who is in charge of developing the plan.
Madden noted that San Bernardino has significant problems, including gangs and drugs, but that's not what officers hear about.
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_22512569/san-bernardino-police-target-panhandling#ixzz2KW6m6Uj4
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022345874Response to The Straight Story (Original post)
Sun Feb 10, 2013, 12:11 PM
Laelth (12,748 posts)
1. Vomit.
Why not just take care of those who have gotten the shaft by this society? Wouldn't that make more sense?
It was Bush's fault, but everything should be okay by now.
Sun Feb 10, 2013, 12:19 PM
Smilo (1,595 posts)
3. I used to give to panhandlers
and sometimes I still do if the mood strikes me.
What blew it for me is I would see the same faces - with slightly different signs over and over - the ones saying they needed gas money, food, etc. And then one day I was approached by a couple asking for bus fare back to their motel which was on the other side of town - I literally scraped my purse and came up with $2.17 (I remember the amount) - I apologized and said I wish I had more but this is all I have and you are welcome to it - the man took the money and then started swearing at me and said I was the most @#@## P.o.s. he had come across and how could they get across town on that - the woman looked at me and wished me a nice trip to hell.
See, now there's your problem. It's not the begging winos. They're like bears foraging from garbage cans in national parks. If they didn't get food from the garbage cans, they wouldn't be around. If winos don't get money, they'll go somewhere else.
The lunatics who run California will never allow a crackdown on winos. It's their constituency.
But if you had city ordinances that made it illegal to give money (garbage) to the winos (bears), they would go away. It works in parks, and it would work on the sidewalks. All species of vermin behave the same.
You could have undercover cops posing as panhandlers and giving tickets to the idiots who give money to winos.
How great would that be?
Sun Feb 10, 2013, 03:50 PM
Coyote_Tan (173 posts)
9. Panhandling and begging is a big part of the reason we choose not to visit San Francisco again...
In most of the tourist areas, in our experience, it was a steady and constant stream and it really diminished the enjoyment of the trip.
My wife felt unsafe and I didn't appreciate the hassle or the smell of the city so we won't be back until it gets cleaned up.
The winos are bad, but most of us are creeped out by the homos.
