Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk • Hacker News Board

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#71

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

dyingkneepad wrote: post #23

As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…

A lot of homeless are mentally ill or, as you mentioned, drug-addicted. There's a very small percentage who can keep a job once hired.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#72

Post by SrslyJosh » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #50

pineconewarrior wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, that job may not offer the person any net quality-of-life improvements. Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry.

>Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry. But now they still have $420 (based on CA's minimum wage of $14) more in their pocket?

Good luck getting and keeping a job when you have nowhere to shower and may be forced to relocate at any time. Oh, and the cops may come and smash or steal all of your belongings.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#73

Post by jhgb » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

belval wrote: post #31

dyingkneepad wrote: post #23

As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…

The base issue is usually mental illness worsened by substance abuse, without a strong social net and with readily available street drugs these people are pretty much unfit for any kind of work.

"Without readily available street drugs"? I suspect that wasn't about medication?

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#74

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

dhbanes wrote: post #44

encryptluks2 wrote: post #19

With millions facing eviction, it is really sad that many people still see the homeless as needing drug counseling to fix their homelessness. It couldn't be that the cost of housing has skyrocketed and now in many places it costs upwards of $1500 a month for rent in a small apartment and the punishment for losing a job and falling behind on debt is having to pay even more for rent or just not being able to have a saf…

Come to LA and talk to the people who live in these encampments. It will become very obvious to you that these aren't people who were living in a 2 bedroom apartment a couple months ago and just couldn't swing the rent.

Yeah, those people are mostly still inc ars or on sofas. Once someone is down to being in a tent they've usually been homeless for a while.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#75

Post by simonsarris » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

dyingkneepad wrote: post #23

As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…

First please note that America has fewer homeless people than many European nations or Canada. Per 10K:

    Germany......79
    UK...........46
    Sweden.......36
    Canada.......36
    Netherlands..23
    France.......21
    USA..........17

(via Wikipedia, stats for differing years unfortunately but gives a sense of magnitude)

It's mostly that the US homeless population concentrates in very few areas.

> How do you reconcile that with the fact that there are so many simple jobs with open positions everywhere?

I have friends who have tried to hire homeless for help with moving because her movers did not show up. The experience did not go well. She basically had to babysit them to the effect of "Ok, pack up that box. Now take it and come with me. [he follows without box] No, lets go back and get the box..." But for everything.

Even among the set of homeless who want to do jobs, many need extraordinary supervision, and most places are not staffed well enough to handle that.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#76

Post by grimgrin » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #50

pineconewarrior wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, that job may not offer the person any net quality-of-life improvements. Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry.

>Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry. But now they still have $420 (based on CA's minimum wage of $14) more in their pocket?

talk to a homeless person. see the depression. imagine?

it is v sad

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#77

Post by SrslyJosh » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

lwansbrough wrote: post #6

Causality1 wrote: post #3

Todd said she had gone to the overpass to distribute sandwiches, potato chips and water to people living at the freeway encampment. Todd’s lawsuit accuses the city of allowing the encampment at the 101 overpass on Gower to remain for a “substantial amount of time,” Why is she distributing supplies to a group of people she wants the city to throw out?

Believe it or not you can feed the homeless and also want the city to do more for them without turning your streets into a slum.

Hard to see how the net impact of this lawsuit is going to be anything other than more state violence directed at homeless people.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#78

Post by JadeNB » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:32 PM UTC

arenaninja wrote: post #17

octopoc wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be weird if that's what she was wanting, but I don't think that's a fair assumption. Nowhere in the article does it say she's trying to force the city to throw the homeless out. It does say: > Todd’s lawsuit accuses the city of allowing the encampment at the 101 overpass on Gower to remain for a “substantial amount of time,” creating dangerous conditions for pedestrians and drivers. The city also did not p…

Maybe they would move elsewhere if people stop catering their food? I agree the city has a problem, but to me she exacerbates it (and OP on this thread seems to agree) ahh the downvotes with no reply have begun, is this reddit now?

> Maybe they would move elsewhere if people stop catering their food? I agree the city has a problem, but to me she exacerbates it (and OP on this thread seems to agree)

What is an appropriate response? As an individual who cares about the homeless, you can want, and seek to force, the city to address the problem, but the large-scale remedies that can be pursued by local government are not available to you personally. Do you really think one would occupy a moral high ground by doing nothing, compared to trying at least to alleviate the suffering of the people who are stuck in this position that they don't want either?

(To put it differently, do you think that the homeless are there because it's the best possible place?)

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#79

Post by void_mint » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:32 PM UTC

gogopuppygogo wrote: post #2

Kevin Paffrath has some ideas for solving this. The Democratic Party seems bent on preventing him from having a fair shot.

> Kevin Paffrath (born 1992, also known as Meet Kevin),[2] is an American YouTuber, landlord, and real estate broker.[3][4][5]

When your #1 qualification is YouTuber, you probably ahve no businesses holding public office.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#80

Post by edoceo » Wed, Aug 04, 2021, 9:32 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #50

pineconewarrior wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, that job may not offer the person any net quality-of-life improvements. Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry.

>Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry. But now they still have $420 (based on CA's minimum wage of $14) more in their pocket?

"net quality-of-life improvements" from the parent. You are counting Gross. IE: its not worth it.