I appreciate the sentiment, but that was not the point. I was trying to indicate that some people have not chosen to live on the streets.
In the OP you speak so negatively about runaways and homeless waifs. Do you seriously believe that any kid wants to be out there?
Crack mothers are having a great time. Welfare recipients have the easy life. People on the street are getting a free ride. And if you’re poor, you chose to be that way. Vote Buchanan '00.
I was homeless once, and it’s not fun.
The welfare people will give you a little free food, but mostly you get it from churches. Buchannan doesn’t know how little the government does.
No, I don’t, but look at it another way. Maybe some of these spare-changers aren’t officially homeless. Maybe they earn enough from panhandling to keep up their share of the rent on a crap apartment or a derelict house, plus some money for smokes and mac and cheese. There are people who live like that, and I’m not putting it down. What I am saying is that the kid standing in front of the Fillmore giving you Bambi eyes doesn’t necessarily have nothing between him and starvation except your dollar.
So let me amend—not retract—my earlier statement. I’m expressing skepticism towards panhandlers in San Francisco, not denigrating the homeless in SF or anywhere. Panhandlers may not be as desperate as they want you to think they are.
So fucking what? Okay, maybe they’re not desperate. Maybe they’re living the easy life. What does it cost you? A dollar a day? And only if you feel like giving it.
You take this attitude like you’re speaking for people everywhere. The innocent victims who are swindled by those rotten pandhandlers on a daily basis. Well here’s some news for you: Many of the people I know don’t have any problem with just giving a buck away. You’ve got an extra buck, you give him the extra buck. Not because he needs it, but because you don’t. If you do need every dollar, then you just say “Sorry man, not today.” You can believe in karma or not, that’s your prerogative. But they’re not hurting you, and they’re not leaching off of you unless you let them.
And one last thing, I know the kind of people you’re talking about. Y’know, the ones who don’t work and don’t want to. I’ve hung out with them before. Almost none of them stay that way forever. And the ones who do stay that way are dead weight. But they’re not weighing us down that much.
You know, I still don’t see why you fealt the need to open a Pit thread quoting my post as an excuse to complain about something entirely unrelated.
I say: “the homeless sleep in front of city hall; that makes me laugh”
you say: “the homeless can be mean and scary; I saw two of them get into a nasty fight. And some of them aren’t even in need”.
That’s great. Wonderful. Take it elsewhere. If you want to flame me, go right a-fucking-head; I’ll be here waiting. If not, let this thread die the miserable death it deserves–and start another one in GD about the relative merits of homelessness.
In other words: shit, or get off the pot.
Some actual facts on homelessness. Lizard, I don’t know how it worked in your city, but you should avoid making generalizations of other cities based on it. If your city was able to provide, that’s great. Unfornutaely most aren’t.
In 1996, 154 homeless people died in San Francisco. This is the highest number of deaths since records were first compiled in 1985. (I can’t remember what it was last year, but it was around this ammount)
The Mayor’s Office of Housing estimates that there are between 11,000 and 14,000 homeless people in San Francisco on any given night.
Within the city, there are only about 1,400 shelter beds serving all those in need, including families, victims of domestic violence, youth, and single adults.
All shelters in San Francisco are at or beyond capacity each night of the year, with rare exceptions around the 1st and 15th of the month, when welfare checks are given out. (DHS, Shelter Utilization Statistics, 1996).
Two of the largest shelters in San Francisco operate on a lottery system. This means that men and women seeking shelter must apply at the shelter for space before noon each day, and wait until the afternoon to see if they get a bed. If the person does not win the “lotto” they have to call in after 10:00pm to see if there is a bed.
Only 3% of the homeless people surveyed by the San Francisco Task Force in 1989 said they wished to remain on the streets. An overwhelming 95% wanted permanent housing.