Question about the homeless people on the corner of Fair Lakes Blvd & Stringfellow Rd (Fairfax Cnty)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird-I live really close and have never seen these people.

They are at the grocery stores - but not every day. There are a few "regulars". One openly asks, the other just hangs out. My young kids chastised me one day and told me to not give them money, as they will spend it on cigarettes, drugs and booze. Smart kids.

[Anonymous]

Are they homeless, or just beggars? I have seen them at/near the intersection the OP mentions and have seen them in my neck of the woods in Springfield. They like the off-ramp from the Fairfax County Parkway to the metro station where you'd have to turn left to get to the mall on Frontier Dr. I never thought they were homeless, just assumed they were panhandlers/gypsies.

[Anonymous]

I've seen 2 near-miss accidents near the intersection by my home in Fairfax. 2 people were trying to make a Uturn to give a woman some money (they were in the turn lane to go onto 66).

I hate that this particular intersection has lately become a hotbead for begging activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen 2 near-miss accidents near the intersection by my home in Fairfax. 2 people were trying to make a Uturn to give a woman some money (they were in the turn lane to go onto 66).

I hate that this particular intersection has lately become a hotbead for begging activity.

Crazy.

Sounds like it's getting bad everywhere nowadays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume they are drug users. One woman was shoe-less the other day, hence the assumption. Uncomfortable place to be shoeless otherwise.

+1
They're looking for easy cash to pay to fuel their opioid addiction.

If they were truly homeless, there are a ton of resources and outreach programs in Ffx Co to help them. Obviously, they are choosing not to.

[Anonymous]

It happens in even better places too, such as Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a band of them at Pan Am shopping center at Lee Hwy and Nutley St. They talk to each other and coordinate. They don't look well off but something seems different than the usual panhandlers

They live together. Next time you're turning west on Lee from Nutley, peek down in the woods - tent city. There are tent cities all over creation tucked back in the woods. Look at the woods near the exit toward Fair Oaks mall from EB66 - tent city. Since the economy has recovered there aren't quite so many as there used to be, but they're there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see them every day, too, and I'm highly skeptical. I think it's an operation.

I have seen the main guy (anyone who lives near here knows who I am talking about) at the Union Mill Starbucks. My kids pointed him out. He was sitting, working on a laptop with a Starbucks drink in hand. His expression was completely different, not slack jawed like when he's on the corner.

Oh that's awesome! I work from that Starbucks pretty often. Which guy do you see--the one who carries a sign that says he is a homeless vet or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be a band of them at Pan Am shopping center at Lee Hwy and Nutley St. They talk to each other and coordinate. They don't look well off but something seems different than the usual panhandlers

They are a Lee Highway and Glebe Road in Arlington.

I swear someone's dropping them off at these places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird-I live really close and have never seen these people.

They are at the grocery stores - but not every day. There are a few "regulars". One openly asks, the other just hangs out. My young kids chastised me one day and told me to not give them money, as they will spend it on cigarettes, drugs and booze. Smart kids.

How is that smart? What does it matter what they do with the money after you give it to them?

[Anonymous]

I have a friend whose daughter is addicted to heroin. When she and her boyfriend aren't in rehab, they live out of his car and ask for money and get enough for food and their drugs. It's so sad, she's got a home and family but is giving it all up for drugs. I think more and more it's not a homeless problem, per se, it's drug addiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird-I live really close and have never seen these people.

They are at the grocery stores - but not every day. There are a few "regulars". One openly asks, the other just hangs out. My young kids chastised me one day and told me to not give them money, as they will spend it on cigarettes, drugs and booze. Smart kids.

How is that smart? What does it matter what they do with the money after you give it to them?

You must be joking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see them every day, too, and I'm highly skeptical. I think it's an operation.

I have seen the main guy (anyone who lives near here knows who I am talking about) at the Union Mill Starbucks. My kids pointed him out. He was sitting, working on a laptop with a Starbucks drink in hand. His expression was completely different, not slack jawed like when he's on the corner.

Oh that's awesome! I work from that Starbucks pretty often. Which guy do you see--the one who carries a sign that says he is a homeless vet or something?

I don't know what his sign says. He has white hair, big eyes and a really big gut. His mouth is always agape when he's working the corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird-I live really close and have never seen these people.

They are at the grocery stores - but not every day. There are a few "regulars". One openly asks, the other just hangs out. My young kids chastised me one day and told me to not give them money, as they will spend it on cigarettes, drugs and booze. Smart kids.

How is that smart? What does it matter what they do with the money after you give it to them?

I'm not interested in enabling someone's drug habit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weird-I live really close and have never seen these people.

They are at the grocery stores - but not every day. There are a few "regulars". One openly asks, the other just hangs out. My young kids chastised me one day and told me to not give them money, as they will spend it on cigarettes, drugs and booze. Smart kids.

How is that smart? What does it matter what they do with the money after you give it to them?

You must be joking.

What? Grocery store poster here. My young kids have more foresight than most adults, as you proved. I wasn't raised with the current drug epidemic that this generation is in, so the younger generation is wiser in that regard.