Tenleytown Library homeless issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised to learn that homeless people have finally entered NW DC. The rest of us have been dealing with this issue for decades.

There have been homeless in upper NW and particularly in tenley and other neighborhoods for decades. I don't know what plane the OP rode in on, but this isn't new.

OP here -

I’ve actually been to so many libraries and lived in the city for almost 20 years.

What I said was that not many libraries have the setup that has a large vestibule that you enter that is large enough for people to sleep/stay and provides benches for no other reason than to loiter.

Cleveland Park has a normal small vestibule. As does Chevy Chase. Georgetown as well.

I, too, am a liberal. And I wish we had all the answers to help all the people. But the reality is we don’t but the answer shouldn’t be making families - or anyone really - endure the various behaviors and experiences I have seen and others have experienced as noted above.

I couldn’t allow my child to go to the Tenleytown library alone as I’d like to do living In a neighborhood with a library walking distance. I am too afraid of what she would see/experience and how they would handle it on her own. In most scenarios they would be defenseless and have no idea what to do if one of the individuals was having a mental episode or a medical emergency or if they even just tried to approach her. It could easily be a traumatic event.

And to those asking why I don’t visit other libraries to see how bad it is other places, I don’t think the social solution is admonish fears because it’s the same in other places. I don’t think it should be tolerated anywhere. But again, the Tenley library has a unique set up.

I was driving by yesterday and there were paramedics inside the vestibule. It’s not ok the level of trauma that a child could experience.

Is it okay the level of trauma the homeless are experiencing? It's not all about your child, OP.

Of course, it's not. That's why they should be assisted through govt agencies, mandatory addiction treatment, homeless shelters, and/or hospitalization if their issues are so severe that they can't work and their families are unable or won't support them. .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the child of immigrant parents who did not speak English and worked long hours, the public library was my refuge. I spent countless afternoons there reading, studying, doing my homework, and talking to librarians about books and newspapers. It was safe, clean, and welcoming place. That experience no longer exists for many children today, and its loss is a profound social failure.

Public libraries have been radically transformed, not by accident but by deliberate policy choices that elevate the demands of the severely mentally ill, drug-addicted, and chronically homeless over the rights of the working class, poor families, students, and children who rely on libraries the most. This is not a rant about people down on their luck. It is about repeated, unchecked behavior that would be unacceptable anywhere else: aggressive public ranting, overwhelming filth and odor, public nudity, people soiling themselves and then occupying furniture that others will later use, harassment of minors, and the routine conversion of restrooms into makeshift bathing, laundry facilities, and places to inject drugs. These conditions are continually tolerated while staff stand by powerless or unwilling to act.

The result is that law-abiding patrons are effectively displaced from a public institution. No one can concentrate and people do not feel safe. Students are driven away from one of the few remaining free spaces for learning. When libraries become hostile or frightening environments, it is the poorest and most vulnerable law-abiding users who pay the price.

Defenders of this status quo often cloak themselves in the language of compassion. Librarians and outside advocates dismiss legitimate concerns as intolerance. This is not empathy; it is abdication. Compassion does not require sacrificing standards of hygiene, safety, or basic decency, nor does it require turning libraries into de facto homeless shelters or psychiatric wards.

It is a travesty that today, those who disrupt, intimidate, and degrade public spaces are afforded more practical rights than children trying to do homework, immigrants trying to learn English, or students trying to escape chaos at home. When libraries abandon standards, they do not become more inclusive they become unusable. And society is immeasurably poorer for it.

I agree. The city provides shelters and many of the unhoused decline to use them...so they can take over and render unusable any space they want, to the detriment of a much greater number of others? That makes no sense and is also a waste of taxpayer funds. Re the Tenleytown library, I've also stopped using the compost collection station on that corner because of the harassment I've experienced each time I've gone.

You are not better or more important than the smelly homeless person. There is nothing wrong with them sitting there in the warm. The library is just as much for them as it is for you.

DP. The library is open to the public, true. But there are reasonable expectations of good hygiene and socially acceptable behavior at play, too. The PPP beautifully lays all of this out in her post, which you clearly ignore because you have no actual rebuttal and deep down, you know she's correct. Public libraries are for ALL of us, to include women and children - the very same people who are constantly harassed by mentally ill homeless people. But it's clear you couldn't care less about all of those other people who are now unable to use the library as it was intended.

The poster who thinks anyone in an any condition should be able to be in the library apparently does not care about children's safety.

+1 The kind of person who thinks everyone is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want -- rights with no rules or obligations to others.

Stop twisting my words and making stuff up. That is not what I said. I DID say that the homeless have every right to be in public spaces, just like OP and just like you. If they are sitting there trying to stay warm, there is NOTHING wrong with that. I never said they are allowed to do whatever they want. If you are bothered by the smell, check the books out and take them home, princess. I'd much rather that, than the homeless freeze to death.

PP here. I've said before I'm not bothered by the smell. I AM concerned about those who are using drugs and alcohol (which many of them do) and the safety of children (which also should concern you, princess). I'm not twisting words. You're the one who thinks anyone has the right to hang out in any public space. Do you live in San Franciaco?

And again, we are responding to OP's ridiculous whining about the smell. Not drugs or violence. If that actually happened, she would have received sympathy. Instead, she is whining that she got a whiff of a homeless person. Details matter, princess.

Princess, perhaps you haven't worked with the homeless and don't realize the reasons for their being homeless. It's not just a smell. It's usually severe mental illness and/or addiction issues. There's a safety issue for children. You can quit pretending otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised to learn that homeless people have finally entered NW DC. The rest of us have been dealing with this issue for decades.

There have been homeless in upper NW and particularly in tenley and other neighborhoods for decades. I don't know what plane the OP rode in on, but this isn't new.

OP here -

I’ve actually been to so many libraries and lived in the city for almost 20 years.

What I said was that not many libraries have the setup that has a large vestibule that you enter that is large enough for people to sleep/stay and provides benches for no other reason than to loiter.

Cleveland Park has a normal small vestibule. As does Chevy Chase. Georgetown as well.

I, too, am a liberal. And I wish we had all the answers to help all the people. But the reality is we don’t but the answer shouldn’t be making families - or anyone really - endure the various behaviors and experiences I have seen and others have experienced as noted above.

I couldn’t allow my child to go to the Tenleytown library alone as I’d like to do living In a neighborhood with a library walking distance. I am too afraid of what she would see/experience and how they would handle it on her own. In most scenarios they would be defenseless and have no idea what to do if one of the individuals was having a mental episode or a medical emergency or if they even just tried to approach her. It could easily be a traumatic event.

And to those asking why I don’t visit other libraries to see how bad it is other places, I don’t think the social solution is admonish fears because it’s the same in other places. I don’t think it should be tolerated anywhere. But again, the Tenley library has a unique set up.

I was driving by yesterday and there were paramedics inside the vestibule. It’s not ok the level of trauma that a child could experience.

Is it okay the level of trauma the homeless are experiencing? It's not all about your child, OP.

Of course, it's not. That's why they should be assisted through govt agencies, mandatory addiction treatment, homeless shelters, and/or hospitalization if their issues are so severe that they can't work and their families are unable or won't support them. .

Of course they should be. No one is disputing that. A lot of things in this world should happen but they simply don't. The reality is that they have no place to go so I'd rather them be warm at the library than freeze to deah on the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the child of immigrant parents who did not speak English and worked long hours, the public library was my refuge. I spent countless afternoons there reading, studying, doing my homework, and talking to librarians about books and newspapers. It was safe, clean, and welcoming place. That experience no longer exists for many children today, and its loss is a profound social failure.

Public libraries have been radically transformed, not by accident but by deliberate policy choices that elevate the demands of the severely mentally ill, drug-addicted, and chronically homeless over the rights of the working class, poor families, students, and children who rely on libraries the most. This is not a rant about people down on their luck. It is about repeated, unchecked behavior that would be unacceptable anywhere else: aggressive public ranting, overwhelming filth and odor, public nudity, people soiling themselves and then occupying furniture that others will later use, harassment of minors, and the routine conversion of restrooms into makeshift bathing, laundry facilities, and places to inject drugs. These conditions are continually tolerated while staff stand by powerless or unwilling to act.

The result is that law-abiding patrons are effectively displaced from a public institution. No one can concentrate and people do not feel safe. Students are driven away from one of the few remaining free spaces for learning. When libraries become hostile or frightening environments, it is the poorest and most vulnerable law-abiding users who pay the price.

Defenders of this status quo often cloak themselves in the language of compassion. Librarians and outside advocates dismiss legitimate concerns as intolerance. This is not empathy; it is abdication. Compassion does not require sacrificing standards of hygiene, safety, or basic decency, nor does it require turning libraries into de facto homeless shelters or psychiatric wards.

It is a travesty that today, those who disrupt, intimidate, and degrade public spaces are afforded more practical rights than children trying to do homework, immigrants trying to learn English, or students trying to escape chaos at home. When libraries abandon standards, they do not become more inclusive they become unusable. And society is immeasurably poorer for it.

I agree. The city provides shelters and many of the unhoused decline to use them...so they can take over and render unusable any space they want, to the detriment of a much greater number of others? That makes no sense and is also a waste of taxpayer funds. Re the Tenleytown library, I've also stopped using the compost collection station on that corner because of the harassment I've experienced each time I've gone.

You are not better or more important than the smelly homeless person. There is nothing wrong with them sitting there in the warm. The library is just as much for them as it is for you.

DP. The library is open to the public, true. But there are reasonable expectations of good hygiene and socially acceptable behavior at play, too. The PPP beautifully lays all of this out in her post, which you clearly ignore because you have no actual rebuttal and deep down, you know she's correct. Public libraries are for ALL of us, to include women and children - the very same people who are constantly harassed by mentally ill homeless people. But it's clear you couldn't care less about all of those other people who are now unable to use the library as it was intended.

The poster who thinks anyone in an any condition should be able to be in the library apparently does not care about children's safety.

+1 The kind of person who thinks everyone is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want -- rights with no rules or obligations to others.

Stop twisting my words and making stuff up. That is not what I said. I DID say that the homeless have every right to be in public spaces, just like OP and just like you. If they are sitting there trying to stay warm, there is NOTHING wrong with that. I never said they are allowed to do whatever they want. If you are bothered by the smell, check the books out and take them home, princess. I'd much rather that, than the homeless freeze to death.

PP here. I've said before I'm not bothered by the smell. I AM concerned about those who are using drugs and alcohol (which many of them do) and the safety of children (which also should concern you, princess). I'm not twisting words. You're the one who thinks anyone has the right to hang out in any public space. Do you live in San Franciaco?

And again, we are responding to OP's ridiculous whining about the smell. Not drugs or violence. If that actually happened, she would have received sympathy. Instead, she is whining that she got a whiff of a homeless person. Details matter, princess.

Princess, perhaps you haven't worked with the homeless and don't realize the reasons for their being homeless. It's not just a smell. It's usually severe mental illness and/or addiction issues. There's a safety issue for children. You can quit pretending otherwise.

Then start your own thread about those issues. In this one, none of that was mentioned. It was just the smell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised to learn that homeless people have finally entered NW DC. The rest of us have been dealing with this issue for decades.

There have been homeless in upper NW and particularly in tenley and other neighborhoods for decades. I don't know what plane the OP rode in on, but this isn't new.

OP here -

I’ve actually been to so many libraries and lived in the city for almost 20 years.

What I said was that not many libraries have the setup that has a large vestibule that you enter that is large enough for people to sleep/stay and provides benches for no other reason than to loiter.

Cleveland Park has a normal small vestibule. As does Chevy Chase. Georgetown as well.

I, too, am a liberal. And I wish we had all the answers to help all the people. But the reality is we don’t but the answer shouldn’t be making families - or anyone really - endure the various behaviors and experiences I have seen and others have experienced as noted above.

I couldn’t allow my child to go to the Tenleytown library alone as I’d like to do living In a neighborhood with a library walking distance. I am too afraid of what she would see/experience and how they would handle it on her own. In most scenarios they would be defenseless and have no idea what to do if one of the individuals was having a mental episode or a medical emergency or if they even just tried to approach her. It could easily be a traumatic event.

And to those asking why I don’t visit other libraries to see how bad it is other places, I don’t think the social solution is admonish fears because it’s the same in other places. I don’t think it should be tolerated anywhere. But again, the Tenley library has a unique set up.

I was driving by yesterday and there were paramedics inside the vestibule. It’s not ok the level of trauma that a child could experience.

Is it okay the level of trauma the homeless are experiencing? It's not all about your child, OP.

Of course, it's not. That's why they should be assisted through govt agencies, mandatory addiction treatment, homeless shelters, and/or hospitalization if their issues are so severe that they can't work and their families are unable or won't support them. .

Of course they should be. No one is disputing that. A lot of things in this world should happen but they simply don't. The reality is that they have no place to go so I'd rather them be warm at the library than freeze to deah on the street.

Surely, the liberal folks in the DC area have facilities for housing the homeless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised to learn that homeless people have finally entered NW DC. The rest of us have been dealing with this issue for decades.

There have been homeless in upper NW and particularly in tenley and other neighborhoods for decades. I don't know what plane the OP rode in on, but this isn't new.

OP here -

I’ve actually been to so many libraries and lived in the city for almost 20 years.

What I said was that not many libraries have the setup that has a large vestibule that you enter that is large enough for people to sleep/stay and provides benches for no other reason than to loiter.

Cleveland Park has a normal small vestibule. As does Chevy Chase. Georgetown as well.

I, too, am a liberal. And I wish we had all the answers to help all the people. But the reality is we don’t but the answer shouldn’t be making families - or anyone really - endure the various behaviors and experiences I have seen and others have experienced as noted above.

I couldn’t allow my child to go to the Tenleytown library alone as I’d like to do living In a neighborhood with a library walking distance. I am too afraid of what she would see/experience and how they would handle it on her own. In most scenarios they would be defenseless and have no idea what to do if one of the individuals was having a mental episode or a medical emergency or if they even just tried to approach her. It could easily be a traumatic event.

And to those asking why I don’t visit other libraries to see how bad it is other places, I don’t think the social solution is admonish fears because it’s the same in other places. I don’t think it should be tolerated anywhere. But again, the Tenley library has a unique set up.

I was driving by yesterday and there were paramedics inside the vestibule. It’s not ok the level of trauma that a child could experience.

Is it okay the level of trauma the homeless are experiencing? It's not all about your child, OP.

Of course, it's not. That's why they should be assisted through govt agencies, mandatory addiction treatment, homeless shelters, and/or hospitalization if their issues are so severe that they can't work and their families are unable or won't support them. .

Of course they should be. No one is disputing that. A lot of things in this world should happen but they simply don't. The reality is that they have no place to go so I'd rather them be warm at the library than freeze to deah on the street.

Surely, the liberal folks in the DC area have facilities for housing the homeless.

No, because DC liberals (I'm one of them) love to talk the talk, but as soon as they get a whiff of a homeless person, they gag and want to euthanise them. It is the height of hypocrisy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised to learn that homeless people have finally entered NW DC. The rest of us have been dealing with this issue for decades.

There have been homeless in upper NW and particularly in tenley and other neighborhoods for decades. I don't know what plane the OP rode in on, but this isn't new.

OP here -

I’ve actually been to so many libraries and lived in the city for almost 20 years.

What I said was that not many libraries have the setup that has a large vestibule that you enter that is large enough for people to sleep/stay and provides benches for no other reason than to loiter.

Cleveland Park has a normal small vestibule. As does Chevy Chase. Georgetown as well.

I, too, am a liberal. And I wish we had all the answers to help all the people. But the reality is we don’t but the answer shouldn’t be making families - or anyone really - endure the various behaviors and experiences I have seen and others have experienced as noted above.

I couldn’t allow my child to go to the Tenleytown library alone as I’d like to do living In a neighborhood with a library walking distance. I am too afraid of what she would see/experience and how they would handle it on her own. In most scenarios they would be defenseless and have no idea what to do if one of the individuals was having a mental episode or a medical emergency or if they even just tried to approach her. It could easily be a traumatic event.

And to those asking why I don’t visit other libraries to see how bad it is other places, I don’t think the social solution is admonish fears because it’s the same in other places. I don’t think it should be tolerated anywhere. But again, the Tenley library has a unique set up.

I was driving by yesterday and there were paramedics inside the vestibule. It’s not ok the level of trauma that a child could experience.

Is it okay the level of trauma the homeless are experiencing? It's not all about your child, OP.

Of course, it's not. That's why they should be assisted through govt agencies, mandatory addiction treatment, homeless shelters, and/or hospitalization if their issues are so severe that they can't work and their families are unable or won't support them. .

Of course they should be. No one is disputing that. A lot of things in this world should happen but they simply don't. The reality is that they have no place to go so I'd rather them be warm at the library than freeze to deah on the street.

Surely, the liberal folks in the DC area have facilities for housing the homeless.

The facilities have rules and people don't like rules. The library lets you in drunk and high. It's more accepting.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and other pretty nasty mental health disorders, but what I don't understand is why librarians can't trained to treat them? and maybe provide them with some job/life counseling too? if the homeless people smell, is it too much to ask that librarians given them sponge baths? they have those machines for people to check out their own books, so it's not like they're so busy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and other pretty nasty mental health disorders, but what I don't understand is why librarians can't trained to treat them? and maybe provide them with some job/life counseling too? if the homeless people smell, is it too much to ask that librarians given them sponge baths? they have those machines for people to check out their own books, so it's not like they're so busy.

I think they should also be trained to give you an enema since you're so clearly full of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and other pretty nasty mental health disorders, but what I don't understand is why librarians can't trained to treat them? and maybe provide them with some job/life counseling too? if the homeless people smell, is it too much to ask that librarians given them sponge baths? they have those machines for people to check out their own books, so it's not like they're so busy.

I think they should also be trained to give you an enema since you're so clearly full of it.

LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and other pretty nasty mental health disorders, but what I don't understand is why librarians can't trained to treat them? and maybe provide them with some job/life counseling too? if the homeless people smell, is it too much to ask that librarians given them sponge baths? they have those machines for people to check out their own books, so it's not like they're so busy.

I think they should also be trained to give you an enema since you're so clearly full of it.

Probably a lot of people on this thread will volunteer sponge baths since they clearly care so much about the homeless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and other pretty nasty mental health disorders, but what I don't understand is why librarians can't trained to treat them? and maybe provide them with some job/life counseling too? if the homeless people smell, is it too much to ask that librarians given them sponge baths? they have those machines for people to check out their own books, so it's not like they're so busy.

I think they should also be trained to give you an enema since you're so clearly full of it.

Probably a lot of people on this thread will volunteer sponge baths since they clearly care so much about the homeless

We care enough not to want them outside in the freezing. More than you can say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and other pretty nasty mental health disorders, but what I don't understand is why librarians can't trained to treat them? and maybe provide them with some job/life counseling too? if the homeless people smell, is it too much to ask that librarians given them sponge baths? they have those machines for people to check out their own books, so it's not like they're so busy.

I think they should also be trained to give you an enema since you're so clearly full of it.

Probably a lot of people on this thread will volunteer sponge baths since they clearly care so much about the homeless

We care enough not to want them outside in the freezing. More than you can say.

Libraries are not homeless shelters. Also, it's 50 degrees out.

[Anonymous]

Why does everyone keep saying that libraries are for the poor or working class? I'm rich AF and I use the library all the time. I read way too much to buy all the books I consume--since I don't re-read, it would be so wasteful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, a lot of homeless people have schizophrenia and other pretty nasty mental health disorders, but what I don't understand is why librarians can't trained to treat them? and maybe provide them with some job/life counseling too? if the homeless people smell, is it too much to ask that librarians given them sponge baths? they have those machines for people to check out their own books, so it's not like they're so busy.

I think they should also be trained to give you an enema since you're so clearly full of it.

Probably a lot of people on this thread will volunteer sponge baths since they clearly care so much about the homeless

We care enough not to want them outside in the freezing. More than you can say.

Libraries are not homeless shelters. Also, it's 50 degrees out.

You go sit outside then and read to your spawn.