The descriptor was ‘hateful mob front’, as in a business that is legitimate but its purpose is to hide its true moneymaking machinations. I haven’t yet run into a hateful mob of Mormons, no (they’d do it behind my back in order to continue their ‘neighbor ministering’ anyway); but those innocent folks inMountain Meadow, they sure found a hateful mob of Mormons, didn’t they? The church would like the skull of a child victim for their monument.
I missed this whole episode. Clearly the state data, the NYT and WaPo should have examined the data more carefully. Like, where did the “91%” come from? Looking at the actual numbers in the chart in the news articles, the reduction was from 1932 to 539, a 72% decrease. Still substantial, but not the headline number.
Frankly, it looks like a program manager put the best case forward to the legislature, perhaps better than the best case, to protect the funding. The legislature believed them and bragged it up.
As a great man once said-lies, damn lies, and statistics. Gets em every time.
Oh, and the OP seemed to be upset about the the idea of calling out the guard. Violence is not due to the numbers, the criminals could well be in the 539. The concern about the violence had nothing to do with the programs to reduce homelessness. Unless the legislature thought that reducing the numbers would somehow prevent violence. Oops.
In all seriousness, the optics of the Guard at or near the area in discussion (Rio Grande) would be awful; it’s the exit tourists use to get to the downtown sights most in demand - the Vivint Arena, the Salt Palace Convention Center, the LDS Temple, the University of Utah (whose athletics still use some of the Olympic venues), various theaters and halls for film, plays, opera and symphony and the street festivals such as Pride, FanCon, Japanese festival, Greek festival and other events. Folks would come off the freeway and roll right into Guardsmen surrounding homeless folks.