Los Angeles has a huge problem with vagrants who are politely called homeless people. For the most part they are illegal aliens, drug addicts, violent criminals and the seriously mentally disturbed. They also bring diseases like hepatitis and tuberculosis to people they encounter. To deal with the problem Los Angeles officials want to relocate this blight to residential areas such as Venice. Aside from creating severe economic damage to area property values and destroying a neighborhood residents will have to brace for an increase of every kind of crime.
A simpler and better solution is to deport the alien vagrants, and relocate the rest of this human refuse to industrial areas where the impact is minimal. There would also be better access to jobs for those inclined to clean up and help themselves. There is no reason to place this mess into residential areas where families live.
If the Liberals really want to help the homeless, placing them in residential neighborhoods is inviting hardship to everyone involved. Put the vagrants somewhere where they can be helped. Bring the social workers, medical providers and rehabilitation services out to the vagrants away from existing neighborhoods. Do it for the children.
13 comments:
You have to treat the homeless people where they are. As a Libertarian (?), you should know that the government has no right to pack up and ship the homeless, involuntarily, to some distant remove where we wish they were. We have to treat them where they are.
I don't know exactly where you live, but I live in Venice, just four doors down from the intersection where the St. Joseph's homeless service center, with my wife and my two-year old daughter (one of those children you have so much concern for). And we welcome the service center to our neighborhood.
Patrick Meighan
Venice, CA
1. Just reduce the homeless population by over 35% by simply deporting the vagrant illegal aliens.
2. Moving the homeless to Venice is in itself an involuntary relocation of people. If you’re relocating them anyway it should make no difference that they are sent to industrial areas of the city.
3. Let folks Patrick Meighan who want to invite additional blight to their own homes and families reach into their own pockets to cure the problem instead of mine.
4. The Meighan family seems to need to the homeless services and busloads of vagrants. I suggest they utilize the mental health services themselves. Masochism and self-abuse are symptoms of a much bigger problem
I remember being in LA on vacation. I wasn't too far away from downtown LA when on the way to Union Station we saw skid row. Blocks upon blacks of homeless people living on the streets either sleeping on the pavement or in tents. Really sad. There is somewhere for these people to go and they do need help.
Libertarians agree that taking care of vagrants is not the job of government or the taxpayers but a job for charity.
Why must the USA be the dumping ground for Mexico's poor and criminal element?
Mr. Meighan seems to be a good and loyal Communist.
Patrick Meighan twisted logic is what's destroying America. When vagrancy was still a crime we had little or no homeless problems.
The St. Joseph homeless outfit is run on tax money extorted from taxpayers.
Venice has carried the homeless burden way too long.
fat anna nicole finally kicked the bucket. im shocked you havent postied anyting yet.
Anna Nicole Smith was a tragic figure that needs to rest in peace. I have no interest in feeding this runaway train.
Let's not forget that this is also a symptom of our broken health care system. Many of these people have treatable mental conditions (the drug abuse is often a form of self-medication for these mental problems), and many are Vets (it takes more to support our troops than putting a yellow ribbon magnet on our SUVs). Rather than give them the help they need we dump them on the streets and then complain about the consequences. A particularly disturbing story broke yesterday about an LA hospital dumping a paraplegic on skid row with nothing but a hospital gown and a broken colectomy bag. When the concern for profit margins causes hospitals to treat people like garbage that needs to be disposed of, we all have cause to be concerned.
When will the “Open Borders” crowd recognize that it’s their illegal aliens that have totally destroyed both the health care system and the American medical insurance system?
As for honorably discharged American military veterans being any significant portion of the homeless I reject that. There are a small percentage of homeless vets. They can and do get free health care from the VA health system that they earned while serving America. The VA is not dumping patients on skid row.
I have dealt with panhandlers claiming to be veterans a different way. I ask them for a VA ID card and I have yet seen one produced. I planed to give $5 to every beggar that can produce such an ID. So far the panhandlers have gotten nothing from me.
As for the mentally ill roaming the streets, the liberals have made sure that they are not incarcerated in mental hospitals against their will. That, along with society’s benevolent attitude to petty crimes committed by panhandlers, trespassers, and people using the public way as a toilet are the real reason for the thousands of vagrants.
Thanks for the reply crimefile. You always bring up interesting debates.
I think that illegal immigration, while a valid concern, is too simple a target to blame all of our problems with health care and education on. If we were to close our borders tomorrow, we'd still have a problem. Corporate greed and government corruption also deserve a good part of the blame, arguably more.
As far as the Vet issue goes, I know first-hand from my own work experience, and from the experiences of an MD colleague of mine who works in the psych ward of a VA hospital in So. Cal that there are many homeless vets with serious mental problems that are not getting the help they need.
I know your libertarian tendencies might make you averse to government intervention in this social problem, but there are very pragmatic reasons to try and do better for these people.
We need to get the bums off of the street. My attitude would be different if bums would keep out of the way and not be aggressive, belligerent and violent.
In regards to specifics, I can only comment on the bums who live in Hollywood, where I walk to the post office every day. Some of them are mentally ill. Few of them are illegal aliens. Most of the ones that stay in encampments for extended periods (which is the MO for most bums) are just lazy.
I encounter at least 5 bums on my daily walk. Most are very belligerent and aggressive and they get more and more threatening and violent every day. They are almost always thoughtless and frequently spiteful in regards to people who actually need to use the public sidewalk.
To get them inclined toward staying in shelters, we need strong, quickly enforceable laws with punishments that they dislike -- put them on labor crews, etc.
One's outlook on the problem changes when one has to deal with it on a daily basis. When I was a non-pedestrian, I would sometimes get about forty Anthony dollars and walk around passing them out to bums. I now realize that that is a terrible thing to do, because it encourages the bums to stay on the street. Those who feel that bums should be allowed to live on public sidewalks and urinate and defecate in public are probably drivers -- not daily pedestrians in an urban setting.
I hole-heartedly agree with your position crimefile.
Jail bums and beggars teach them to support themselves only release them to pre-arranged accommodation and work re-jail them for failure
they need to stop parasitic life style from my taxes
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