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

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

#351

Post by Causality1 »

mark242 wrote: post #40
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?

The encampment underneath the 101 on Gower is extremely dangerous. There is a stop sign at the end of the exit from the highway, and cross-traffic does not stop. When you want to go south on Gower and there is any amount of traffic, you need to hustle to make the left. The encampment has taken over one of the lanes of southbound traffic, and when you hustle to make that left, unless you overcorrect on the turn and sl…

Strange. If that popped up here they'd be arrested for illegally blocking traffic.

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

#352

Post by hintymad »

legitster wrote: post #109

This is becoming such a frustrating issue. As an advocate of public spaces and parks, it's kind of heartbreaking that maybe 1/3 of public spaces in our town are no longer usable for all - they have more or less become private spaces for the homeless. I don't have much respect for communities that solve the issue by just "kicking them out" and passing the problem onto others, but it is almost becoming unacceptably com…

I wonder how Japan could manage their cities so well, even though they also have their own share of homeless people. As for the US, I think the US people brought the problem upon themselves, at least in some degree: it's increasingly rare to see serious discussions on pros and cons of different solutions. Instead, it's all about politics. The moment someone wants to discuss a solution, somewhere some activist or politician will shout out racism or equity or oppression or white supremacy or some other moral slurs. Amazingly, voters, at least those in big cities, love that.

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

#353

Post by emodendroket »

hintymad wrote: post #352
legitster wrote: post #109

This is becoming such a frustrating issue. As an advocate of public spaces and parks, it's kind of heartbreaking that maybe 1/3 of public spaces in our town are no longer usable for all - they have more or less become private spaces for the homeless. I don't have much respect for communities that solve the issue by just "kicking them out" and passing the problem onto others, but it is almost becoming unacceptably com…

I wonder how Japan could manage their cities so well, even though they also have their own share of homeless people. As for the US, I think the US people brought the problem upon themselves, at least in some degree: it's increasingly rare to see serious discussions on pros and cons of different solutions. Instead, it's all about politics. The moment someone wants to discuss a solution, somewhere some activist or poli…

This seems like a misdiagnosis. To my mind, the obvious problem is the wailing and gnashing of teeth whenever someone suggests building an apartment complex, let alone a homeless shelter. Impossible to take a step to address the problem if every proposal is shut down by concerned homeowners making a scene at every town meeting.

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

#354

Post by emodendroket »

monkeydreams wrote: post #347
michaelt wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Shelters are often unsafe and filled with people who have untreated problems. Violence is a real risk. I've always found it a bit ironic when people intending to advocate for better treatment of the homeless proclaim that homeless shelters are havens of violence, full of dangerous people with drug and mental health problems.

> I've always found it a bit ironic when people intending to advocate for better treatment of the homeless proclaim that homeless shelters are havens of violence This is the equivalent of suggesting that there is irony in the position that one can support animal welfare but still be against the position of beating animals with a stick (rather than an iron bar). Homeless shelters can be violent. They are certainly ful…

People are too shy to say it but I think a lot of them would prefer a much more violent solution to the problem. I mean, what other answer could there even be, if you don't like the status quo and also don't think homeless people should be offered housing? That's the dark secret behind a lot of these debates where people's positions otherwise seem nonsensical, I think.

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

#355

Post by throwwhm2 »

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…

Nobody wants to admit this, but probably more so here on HN and specially those who will downvote this reply to oblivion and have 10k+ karma points. They will find any excuse to sidestep this as a legitimate issue, here are some to watch out for: a. other countries have a worse homeless problem b. it's because we closed mental health institutions in the 80s c. I was homeless you don't know what you're talking about d. war on drugs is the cause e. you shouldn't judge others maybe they chose this... the list goes on and on and I'm not going to respond to any of them here, just something to be on the look out for when this topic comes up. In the US people don't find the same solidarity with their fellow citizens unless you belong to the same club or same sociopolitical spectrum you basically think you're better than everyone else and there is a deep rooted superiority complex among people here. This is in stark contrast to countries even in Europe including Italy and others where there is a strong sense of community and for example Italianess that supersedes petty political and idealogical beliefs that many in the US cling to almost religiously.

I don't think Americans want to admit this specially the closer to the coastal cities you get the less sense of solidarity with fellow citizens and belongingness prevails rather than more community driven even religious South.

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

#356

Post by throwhands77 »

Fellshard wrote: post #52

Meta: Do not use single-factor analysis when examining the homelessness problem. It will get you into trouble every time.

And please don't add confusion to muddy the water when otherwise simple solutions exist.

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

#357

Post by onecommentman »

awsthro00945 wrote: post #319
cloverich wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it would be constructive to provide some examples of concrete things municipalities can do, and that we can learn about so we can hold them accountable.

I mentioned it in my earlier comment but in my experience it really comes down to continued funding and not "half assing" efforts. The successful homeless shelter I mentioned earlier is not a revolutionary shelter that is doing vastly different things, it's just a shelter that, due to outside donations and support, is able to actually follow through on things like providing security, nutritional food, community build…

Kudos for being a hands-on part of the solution instead of a hand-wringing theoretician.

But if the only response to “how can things be done better” is “send more money”, anyone who has been on the funding side of things will just move on.

Not “half-a*ing” things doubtless has a lot of components. If you are as successful in your shelter as you say, you have a bunch of proven best practices that can be implemented by other shelters and those who certify them. What are those? How can a funder support the implementation of even one of those specific ideas? That will bring out the wallet faster than a blank check appeal. (Are there even certification and rating programs in this space?)

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

#358

Post by TMWNN »

keewee7 wrote: post #284

Why do homeless people in the US concentrate in a few big cities with good weather? In Denmark there are fewer of them and they are more spread out and you can also find them in rural areas.

As imbnwa said, it's lack of enforcement. Ignore those who say that it's good weather. San Diego has homeless but not nearly as many as San Francisco, despite San Diego having probably the best weather in the US. San Francisco, however, has many more services for the homeless than San Diego.

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

#359

Post by TMWNN »

handrous wrote: post #216
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…

If you talk to people hiring for very bottom-of-the-market workers, you'll find their #1 problem is finding people who actually show up , and also aren't (bluntly) crazy, dangerous, or frequently drunk/high. There's no shortage of candidates for $12/hr jobs who are not worth $12/hr of labor, since they don't show up half the time and are space-cases when they do. The "actually show up" part is a combination of the fa…

>[EDIT] source: I once worked on an app in this space, and had some visibility into the feedback & concerns of employers of this sort (not with the app, but generally with hiring in that market) and that was consistently something they talked about, at length, usually with tons of sad or amusing/surprising anecdotes—hire someone, then they just never, ever show up, or they come for their first shift then ghost after that, or you call them 30 minutes after their shift is supposed to start and they're like "oh yeah, that, I'm not coming in today, I might be in tomorrow, I dunno yet", or their car's always broken, obviously-high candidates in interviews, all that sort of thing.

This was a big problem in Newfoundland during WW2. The term "Newfies" began as a slur, created by Canadians who found that workers they hired to build military bases would show up to work long enough to collect the money they needed to live in their home coastal villages, then immediately leave.

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

#360

Post by effingwewt »

austincheney wrote: post #204

None of this makes sense to me. In Fort Worth it is a misdemeanor to panhandle or sleep in a public space without a permit. As a result I almost never see homeless people, even downtown. Homeless encampments certainly don’t exist or if they do they are places far away from residences or roads. I know there are numbers indicating there are homeless about though, so they just aren’t visible in areas where people would…

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids all men to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread-the rich as well as the poor.
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