Tenleytown Library homeless issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you consider yourself to be a Christian or a member of any faith community, now would be a good time to stop.

Here’s a good litmus test of morality for anyone, regardless of faith. Imagine that you are saying the words you are about to say in front of Pope Leo. Do you still need to say them? Do you need to say them a different way? If you said them, what do you think he’d say back to you?

And I say this as not a Catholic.

We should take everything from those claiming to be Christians and redistribute to the needy. If they won't follow their faith, we can do it for them.

Are you a college freshman home for Christmas break who just discovered atheism or something? Shouldn't you be on Tik Tok?

Just pointing out what people who aren't Christians think Christians are.

[Anonymous]

It triggers me seeing them in libraries. I was routinely accosted, flashed (and I mean completely flashed), and touched by the homeless in a library when I was about 14. I was volunteering to tutor younger kids until I couldn't take it any more. It still bothers me that the library allowed that to happen and didn't protect kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you consider yourself to be a Christian or a member of any faith community, now would be a good time to stop.

Here’s a good litmus test of morality for anyone, regardless of faith. Imagine that you are saying the words you are about to say in front of Pope Leo. Do you still need to say them? Do you need to say them a different way? If you said them, what do you think he’d say back to you?

And I say this as not a Catholic.

OP here -

Thankfully I no longer consider myself a Christian because I have been able to break away from years of indoctrination and recognize hypocrisy when I see it. The treatment of people in religious communities (particularly the Catholic one I grew up in) is awful. I don’t think I need to explain much more about that.

Maybe Opus Dei who owns many properties in Tenleytown would be interested in welcoming these individuals to come stay with them.

I actually do pride myself on staying in the city with a family, showing them different cultures, and putting them around people of different faiths, colors, backgrounds, and needs. But no, I do not think I should have to expose them to the things they experienced this week in order to use a public space.

No other library I am aware of has such a prime vestibule for this sort of activity.

Public spaces are for...the public, OP.

If you don't like the FACT that there are many people without homes among the public; many people without access to showers among the public; many people facing unemployment among the public; or people facing among the public, then vote, get involved, donate, or DO SOMETHING about it.

Too bad for you that "the public" means everyone, not just those who you deem to be worthy of dignity.

That's all.

[Anonymous]

All the libraries have this issue in our area it's a real problem that they pretty much encourage! I had to stop volunteering at mine because they put the comfort, care and safety for their homeless before their volunteers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you consider yourself to be a Christian or a member of any faith community, now would be a good time to stop.

Here’s a good litmus test of morality for anyone, regardless of faith. Imagine that you are saying the words you are about to say in front of Pope Leo. Do you still need to say them? Do you need to say them a different way? If you said them, what do you think he’d say back to you?

And I say this as not a Catholic.

OP here -

Thankfully I no longer consider myself a Christian because I have been able to break away from years of indoctrination and recognize hypocrisy when I see it. The treatment of people in religious communities (particularly the Catholic one I grew up in) is awful. I don’t think I need to explain much more about that.

Maybe Opus Dei who owns many properties in Tenleytown would be interested in welcoming these individuals to come stay with them.

I actually do pride myself on staying in the city with a family, showing them different cultures, and putting them around people of different faiths, colors, backgrounds, and needs. But no, I do not think I should have to expose them to the things they experienced this week in order to use a public space.

No other library I am aware of has such a prime vestibule for this sort of activity.

You pride yourself with staying in the city with your family, showing them different cultures, etc., etc. -- please go on a tour of all the public libraries in DC during the extremely cold weather. I will even give you bonus points for using the metro to do so. That tour of the city will teach your children more than the occasional visit with mom to the Tenleytown Library.

+1! OP knows of no other public library that has homeless people?!? I haven't seen a public library in DC that *doesn't* have homeless people in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you consider yourself to be a Christian or a member of any faith community, now would be a good time to stop.

Here’s a good litmus test of morality for anyone, regardless of faith. Imagine that you are saying the words you are about to say in front of Pope Leo. Do you still need to say them? Do you need to say them a different way? If you said them, what do you think he’d say back to you?

And I say this as not a Catholic.

OP here -

Thankfully I no longer consider myself a Christian because I have been able to break away from years of indoctrination and recognize hypocrisy when I see it. The treatment of people in religious communities (particularly the Catholic one I grew up in) is awful. I don’t think I need to explain much more about that.

Maybe Opus Dei who owns many properties in Tenleytown would be interested in welcoming these individuals to come stay with them.

I actually do pride myself on staying in the city with a family, showing them different cultures, and putting them around people of different faiths, colors, backgrounds, and needs. But no, I do not think I should have to expose them to the things they experienced this week in order to use a public space.

No other library I am aware of has such a prime vestibule for this sort of activity.

Public spaces are for...the public, OP.

If you don't like the FACT that there are many people without homes among the public; many people without access to showers among the public; many people facing unemployment among the public; or people facing among the public, then vote, get involved, donate, or DO SOMETHING about it.

Too bad for you that "the public" means everyone, not just those who you deem to be worthy of dignity.

That's all.

I keep debating which person on this thread is the most awful, most insufferable, most obnoxiously sanctimonious. You're in the lead.

[Anonymous]

“Safewashing” OP’s experience is exactly why Trump won. Ridiculous leftists who seem to lack a normal protective instinct toward children and others make me embarrassed to be a Democrat.

Children deserve to feel safe, as do librarians and low-income people who use a library’s services. Immigrants come here from other countries partly because of safety and order. Mocking that natural desire just turns them into republicans.

OP, I would recommend the Georgetown library. Immediately take the elevator down to the kids area. It’s not perfect—but the layout helps prevent the scenario you describe

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why there can’t be day homeless shelters. Set up a facility so homeless can go to the bathroom and hang out in instead of using libraries and public transportation.

People need to have more sympathy for the poor/working class who use public transportation and want to use libraries. They should have a right to use these public places without vagrants interfering with their quiet enjoyment

As someone who's worked with the unhoused for years, I can tell you many don't want shelter. There are almost always significant mental health challenges that contribute.

Police used to arrest them for minor offenses, when others find them to be inconvenient and call 911, like the smell and blocking people when walking into to a public facility (merely being there isn't trespass but blocking public right of way is). But that is a bad "solution" for a lot of reasons. Not the least of which is they are back on the street in a matter of hours. So what was the point other than to give them a criminal record?

It's a mental health issue butting up against multiple constitutional issues. And there truly isn't an easy answer.

The constitutional issues have been resolved. This is now a political issue. Vote wisely.

This. Ronald Reagan made it so these lunatics were let out of asylums. Go back to where it was before that. It is not more humane to let people sleep in the cold or in libraries while high and drenched in their own urine than to keep them in a warm, secure environment where they can get the therapy and medication they need.

Unfortunately it became “woke” to have no problem with people getting high, sleeping in public places, and wallowing in their own urine and feces. It’s almost like Putin or some other foreign power psyoped people into thinking this to damage our country.

You have to also understand that there is an entire NGO industrial complex whose livelihoods depend on prolonging the problem. They in large part finance the campaigns of Democrats, including just about every current member of the Council.

uh, ok, what organizations are funding council campaigns....please be specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you consider yourself to be a Christian or a member of any faith community, now would be a good time to stop.

Here’s a good litmus test of morality for anyone, regardless of faith. Imagine that you are saying the words you are about to say in front of Pope Leo. Do you still need to say them? Do you need to say them a different way? If you said them, what do you think he’d say back to you?

And I say this as not a Catholic.

OP here -

Thankfully I no longer consider myself a Christian because I have been able to break away from years of indoctrination and recognize hypocrisy when I see it. The treatment of people in religious communities (particularly the Catholic one I grew up in) is awful. I don’t think I need to explain much more about that.

Maybe Opus Dei who owns many properties in Tenleytown would be interested in welcoming these individuals to come stay with them.

I actually do pride myself on staying in the city with a family, showing them different cultures, and putting them around people of different faiths, colors, backgrounds, and needs. But no, I do not think I should have to expose them to the things they experienced this week in order to use a public space.

No other library I am aware of has such a prime vestibule for this sort of activity.

this is every library, including ones in arlington and montgomery county

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the libraries have this issue in our area it's a real problem that they pretty much encourage! I had to stop volunteering at mine because they put the comfort, care and safety for their homeless before their volunteers.

How exactly ?

[Anonymous]

A homeless person stabbed another homeless person *to death* in the Petworth library *in front of children*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/03/petworth-library-stabbing-arrest-witness/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you consider yourself to be a Christian or a member of any faith community, now would be a good time to stop.

Here’s a good litmus test of morality for anyone, regardless of faith. Imagine that you are saying the words you are about to say in front of Pope Leo. Do you still need to say them? Do you need to say them a different way? If you said them, what do you think he’d say back to you?

And I say this as not a Catholic.

OP here -

Thankfully I no longer consider myself a Christian because I have been able to break away from years of indoctrination and recognize hypocrisy when I see it. The treatment of people in religious communities (particularly the Catholic one I grew up in) is awful. I don’t think I need to explain much more about that.

Maybe Opus Dei who owns many properties in Tenleytown would be interested in welcoming these individuals to come stay with them.

I actually do pride myself on staying in the city with a family, showing them different cultures, and putting them around people of different faiths, colors, backgrounds, and needs. But no, I do not think I should have to expose them to the things they experienced this week in order to use a public space.

No other library I am aware of has such a prime vestibule for this sort of activity.

Really? I had no idea. How do you know this?

[Anonymous]

Come on people-it's like 18 degrees out when the sun goes down. I'm glad homeless people have a safe place they can go for a few hours so they don't freeze to death. I can deal with a smell when I pick out books.