Our lovely mayor has told the homeless to get off the streets,quit panhandling for the holiday season.Seems it looks bad,and bothers folks. So why the holiday season? Is this different;act better for xmas? There was a protest by the homeless and advocates yesterday. I wonder how it’ll end up. Any opinions?
You talking about Mayor White, or Mayor Cain? It’s gotta be White–I can’t imagine Cain doing anything like that in Lakewood.
Anyway, it’s more of the same for Mike White. He’ll do anything to help his buddies, developers Sam Miller and Dick Jacobs, and their giant, tax-abated downtown shopping centers that nobody shops at. He thinks maybe if he arrests the homeless for being homeless, people will shop there.
Doubtful. Jacobs’ Galleria is dead. It’s a tomb. They can’t keep tenants, and the tenants they do have probably have flat same-store sales for the past 6 or 8 quarters. Miller’s Towe City is busy at the lighting ceremony, and the week right before Xmas, but that’s about it.
Everyone, even city and downtown residents, still goes to the suburban malls to shop. The stores (even the ones that also have downtown locations) have less expensive merchandise, the parking is free and plentiful, and most of them are on bus lines. Mike White is trying to solve a problem that has a lot more complicated causes than homeless people downtown.
I thought the reference was to Mayor Giuliani (NYC).
Can we have a little more courtesy and clarity, folks?
I think they did the same basic thing in Atlanta, although that may have been something put forth solely during the Olympics.
Well, shut my mouth. It’s also illegal to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling.
From wht I’ve seen, Downtown (Cleveland)retail sales have started to pick up. You can expect more of this sort of thing as we become more and more of a “tourist city”.
-MrSCOTT
Yes,I’m sorry,I meant Mike White.He’s not My mayor,but he seems to be mayor of all sometimes. When I do go to the Galleria,I’m always asked for change,Ithink by the same guy. He’s not rude. Should they just stand there,hoping someone will walk up to them?(watch the news phil,it’ll be on tonight).
Rose, you remember when Cleveland got in trouble for “dumping”? Cops were picking up homeless people downtown, then driving them way out of the downtown area, sometimes into the suburbs, and just dropping them off. No shelters, no nothing. That was a beautiful thing, eh? Such compassion.
I see the same ones downtown all the time, too. They rarely accost anyone, or get nasty with them. Personally, I wish they’d get rid off all the preachers who stand on the corners, scream at people, and try to foist tracts on them.
Words fail me. Does this mayor (whoever s/he is) have any idea of the significance of Christmas? Has s/he ever read “A Christmas Carol”?
Why doesn’t s/he just proclaim that Christmas has been renamed “Shopping Day” and get it over with.
I’d like to know who that mayor is, I’m ready to write a nasty letter. Any quotes/newspaper articles that you can refer me to?
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
Here you go, Arnold. Mike White is the worst kind of petty dictator, believe me.
Not to get into a battle of the cities with you, pld, but White is the second worst kind of petty dictator. The worst kind evicts parents from homeless shelters and uses their new “shelterless” status as an excuese to take their children away .
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
Or one that orders apartment raids if someone protests against his policies.
http://www.ny1.com/ny/Search/SubTopic/index.html?&contentintid=3050&search_result=1
Formerly unknown as “Melanie”
Arnold Winkelried wrote:
Yeah! Has he forgotten that the true meaning of Christmas is the Sol Invictus holiday at the peak of the ancient Roman Saturnalia festival? Has he forgotten the message of Peace on Earth delivered by Emperor Justinian in the 4th Century A.D., declaring that Jesus was born on the 25th of December, shepherds-watching-their-flocks-at-night be damned, and by the way we’re throwing some pagans to the lions in the Coliseum this evening?
What a surprise that the same people who support stronger, more intrusive government are complaining about a slimy machine mayor acting like . . . like . . . like a slimy machine mayor. You’re the ones who caused the problem. If I had my way, we’d have no mayors at all. The bums would be free to lie in the gutter as long as they liked.
Where are these preachers you see,pl? I’ve never seen them. I was in BostonMarket last night,and this little old lady was walking around,giving everyone tracts,laying them on the tables in front of the customers!
Usually they’re on the corner of E. Roadway and Euclid in front of the BP building, or right over on the square. Last year, it was the Seventh Day Adventists, using their KIDS, for heaven’s sake, to pass out tracts while there were people panhandling right near them. I’m sure Jesus would be proud.
Minneapolis doesn’t usually have to much of a “homeless problem” around the holidays. Maybe -20 degrees has something to do with it.
Now, the homeless themselves…they have a problem.
to too two
Pick one and apply to the affected area.
pldennison: Thank you for the information.
tracer:
The meaning of Christmas is also compassion for the poor. St. Nicholas of Myra (the origin of the mythological Santa Claus) was reputed for his generosity, kindness and miracles for the poor.
The modern secular tradition of Christmas always emphasizes generosity and help for the downtrodden.
Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide.
Maréchal Lyautey
Just to stir up trouble, you guys are neglecting the fact that if they don’t like it, they can get a job and GET OFF THE STREETS! Are you all the same people in the “customer service” thread bashing people who have enough self-respect to go out and take a crappy customer service job that pays squat? You’d rather just give your money to some lazy oaf to buy ripple with? We’re not in a depression here, there’s plenty of work for anyone who wants it; if not in the city they currently reside in, then somewhere else – and since you’re homeless anyway, does it matter WHERE you’re homeless? Why not have nothing in a city where the climate is better and things cost less? Oh yeah, because those places don’t have a booming sympathetic tourist trade that enable them to go on being an insult to the rest of us people who work for a living.
I got news for you, voguevixen, a lot of those “lazy oafs” HAVE jobs. Many of them are formerly abused wives, with children, who left their husbands; and now send their children to school during the day, work in a shitty job, then get their kids together and sleep in their car or on the street.
As long as there is an unemployment rate of higher than 0%, there is NOT “plenty of work for everyone who wants it.” (And let’s not get into the economic ramifications of total employment, it’s irrelevant.) You think Burger King is even going to give an application to the kind of person you’re describing? Think again.
Furthermore, I can’t even begin to imagine how you come to the conclusion that a city with a better climate and lower prices would not have a booming tourist trade. It boggles the mind.
Anyway, I hope you never have to do without or suffer or anything, and Merry Fucking Christmas to you.