Tenleytown Library homeless issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Who said that. I did say that the poor and homeless belong there just as much as you do.

Accessing the library computer might be their only way of communicating with their family or accessing any support service they need.

[Anonymous]

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.

Oh cmon. Cleveland Park and Tenleytown have had homeless people for decades. I grew up there in the 80s and 90s and encountered homeless people multiple times a day.

OP, there is no grounds to say they can't come in the library. Sorry.

I never said that they shouldn’t be able to come to the library. I said that they shouldn’t be able to impede on other people’s experiences. In the Tenleytown library vestibule, you literally cannot go in without walking by the benches where they’re sitting in their self soiled clothing, acting erratically, or just causing visceral reactions by the by the smell. I would love to be able to send my child down the street to the library to pick out a book, to browse, but I can’t because I’m afraid of what might happen or what they will experience.

You can. You just choose not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only gross people in this scenario is OP and her spawn. I am sick and tired of privileged people being so completely tone deaf. OP would rather these people freeze to death than find the only shelter they have in the city. They have nowhere else to go so save me your "offensive smell" and "gag" nonsense.

They have places to go. However, those places have more rules. The library is a free for all.

Including the homeless. They belong there just as much as OP.

No, actually, they do not.

The library serves a purpose. It is for browsing books, studying, accessing the internet if you don't have it at home, making copies, going to children's story time, etc.

It is not for hanging out, loitering, sleeping, harassing people and other things that many homeless people do there. So no, they do not have the "right" to be there to misuse the facility in this way.

No one was harassing Op or her spawn. Again, they have as much right to sit there as you do. You’d know that too if you weren’t a horrible person.

OP here -

My “spawn”? You’re hideous.

Harassment comes in different forms. Yes - intimidation by fear and extreme hygienic issues is a form of harassment.

But I don't think they meant to intimidate you. They're just living their lives. It doesn't sound like they did anything to actually scare you. You're just scared of them because you see how far it's possible for people to fall, and that society does very little to help them. You're scared because that could be you, but for the grace of god.

[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. .

So you're looking for your taxes to go up. I applaud you.

[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. .

So you're looking for your taxes to go up. I applaud you.

PP here. I'm fine with that, and I'm not wealthy. I'm a teacher of kids with special needs..

[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.

Says the person who never, ever goes to the library.

[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.

Says the person who never, ever goes to the library.

Hmmmm, you couldn't be more wrong. My child went to Murch. We lived down the street from this library until two years ago and went several times per week. SAme with the CC library, CP and even the MLK library. I would be willing to bet my salary that we spent more time there than you ever will. I also talked to several of these people and they knew us. Anything else you want to say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Says the person who never, ever goes to the library.

Hmmmm, you couldn't be more wrong. My child went to Murch. We lived down the street from this library until two years ago and went several times per week. SAme with the CC library, CP and even the MLK library. I would be willing to bet my salary that we spent more time there than you ever will. I also talked to several of these people and they knew us. Anything else you want to say?

Congrats You deserve a gold star sticker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of keyboard warriors here whom I'm pretty sure have never done anything at all in the real world to help the homeless.

Many of us who have worked with the homeless are the ones making the case to institutionalize them.

+100
It's people like the PP who likely never have to encounter any of these situations, who like to loftily look down on the rest of us and sanctimoniously claim that we are the problem, and not the mentally ill people who loiter in public libraries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only gross people in this scenario is OP and her spawn. I am sick and tired of privileged people being so completely tone deaf. OP would rather these people freeze to death than find the only shelter they have in the city. They have nowhere else to go so save me your "offensive smell" and "gag" nonsense.

They have places to go. However, those places have more rules. The library is a free for all.

Including the homeless. They belong there just as much as OP.

No, actually, they do not.

The library serves a purpose. It is for browsing books, studying, accessing the internet if you don't have it at home, making copies, going to children's story time, etc.

It is not for hanging out, loitering, sleeping, harassing people and other things that many homeless people do there. So no, they do not have the "right" to be there to misuse the facility in this way.

No one was harassing Op or her spawn. Again, they have as much right to sit there as you do. You’d know that too if you weren’t a horrible person.

OP here -

My “spawn”? You’re hideous.

Harassment comes in different forms. Yes - intimidation by fear and extreme hygienic issues is a form of harassment.

You are a horrible person and you are raising your spawn to be the same. I hope that smell follows you wherever you go today. Gag away.

DP. And I sincerely hope at your next visit to the library, you sit in a puddle of jizz or perhaps some remnants of $hit left over from the mentally ill homeless people. After all, they have every right to sit there and leave their bodily fluids for the next person, amirite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only gross people in this scenario is OP and her spawn. I am sick and tired of privileged people being so completely tone deaf. OP would rather these people freeze to death than find the only shelter they have in the city. They have nowhere else to go so save me your "offensive smell" and "gag" nonsense.

They have places to go. However, those places have more rules. The library is a free for all.

Including the homeless. They belong there just as much as OP.

No, actually, they do not.

The library serves a purpose. It is for browsing books, studying, accessing the internet if you don't have it at home, making copies, going to children's story time, etc.

It is not for hanging out, loitering, sleeping, harassing people and other things that many homeless people do there. So no, they do not have the "right" to be there to misuse the facility in this way.

No one was harassing Op or her spawn. Again, they have as much right to sit there as you do. You’d know that too if you weren’t a horrible person.

OP here -

My “spawn”? You’re hideous.

Harassment comes in different forms. Yes - intimidation by fear and extreme hygienic issues is a form of harassment.

You are a horrible person and you are raising your spawn to be the same. I hope that smell follows you wherever you go today. Gag away.

Right - I will teach my children to not have physical reactions to external stimulus.

Please post your address so I can post it at the Tenleytown Library so people know where they can congregate.

+1
I would absolutely love for this crowd to camp out on the PP's front steps every day.

[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.

Good grief, you're dense. Sorry if the sane among us don't want our kids to be exposed to men leering at them or masturbating in front of them. Feel free to bring your own kids there, not that you ever have before.
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1
We're big library patrons too, and always have been. Libraries are not homeless shelters and I think the people arguing that they should be used as such have never set foot in a library.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Who said that. I did say that the poor and homeless belong there just as much as you do.

Accessing the library computer might be their only way of communicating with their family or accessing any support service they need.

Which is why police stations should be equipped with large facilities where homeless people can come during the day and use computers, access resources, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only gross people in this scenario is OP and her spawn. I am sick and tired of privileged people being so completely tone deaf. OP would rather these people freeze to death than find the only shelter they have in the city. They have nowhere else to go so save me your "offensive smell" and "gag" nonsense.

They have places to go. However, those places have more rules. The library is a free for all.

Including the homeless. They belong there just as much as OP.

No, actually, they do not.

The library serves a purpose. It is for browsing books, studying, accessing the internet if you don't have it at home, making copies, going to children's story time, etc.

It is not for hanging out, loitering, sleeping, harassing people and other things that many homeless people do there. So no, they do not have the "right" to be there to misuse the facility in this way.

No one was harassing Op or her spawn. Again, they have as much right to sit there as you do. You’d know that too if you weren’t a horrible person.

OP here -

My “spawn”? You’re hideous.

Harassment comes in different forms. Yes - intimidation by fear and extreme hygienic issues is a form of harassment.

But I don't think they meant to intimidate you. They're just living their lives. It doesn't sound like they did anything to actually scare you. You're just scared of them because you see how far it's possible for people to fall, and that society does very little to help them. You're scared because that could be you, but for the grace of god.

Sure, that guy masturbating in front of my kids is just living his life. The guy who just went in the bathroom to tweak is living his life - I should send my own young son in after him to use the bathroom. Nothing to worry about, right?
DP