Someone has started sleeping on the sidewalk next to our house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Embrace the economic diversity! If you have children, see if your kids might want to get to know this unhoused person by bringing small treats, delivering blankets, maybe invite the person in for a simple meal and to use your shower. Progress to having sleepovers. Initiate conversations where you can advocate for local resources. Does this person have a drivers license? Metro pass? Could you offer your car or carpool to an employment center? Take this person to doctor appointments?

Who Hoo! Idiot (or troll) of the day!

[Anonymous]

Just throw rat poison on their hands while they sleep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just throw rat poison on their hands while they sleep

Have fun in jail. Keyboard tough-guy.

[Anonymous]

Turn the sprinkler on. Or move out of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just throw rat poison on their hands while they sleep

What’s that going to do?

Nothing, that’s what.

[Anonymous]

A lot of them don’t even want help. I have tried offering homeless people food multiple times before and more than 50% of them told me they don’t want it. This was prepackaged food that was unopened. So don’t waste your time trying to be sympathetic for them when most don’t want to help themselves.

For a service project we created packets with food, toiletries, water, and a blanket to distribute to homeless individuals. Many would not take it. The only thing they wanted was $.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A lot of them don’t even want help. I have tried offering homeless people food multiple times before and more than 50% of them told me they don’t want it. This was prepackaged food that was unopened. So don’t waste your time trying to be sympathetic for them when most don’t want to help themselves.

For a service project we created packets with food, toiletries, water, and a blanket to distribute to homeless individuals. Many would not take it. The only thing they wanted was $.

Yes, many (if not most) want money for cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. I had another person ask me for money in front of a fast food place saying they were hungry. I gave them some money to buy food and they pretended to walk into the restaurant until they thought I wasn’t paying attention then started walking away. I have been burned too many times and will never make the mistake of giving homeless people things again. 99% they don’t want to help themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's illegal. Call the cops.

Section 22-1307 of the DC Code is the District’s Blocking Passage statute. This law gives MPD officers the authority to prevent crowding, obstructing, or incommoding of public spaces. According to this statute, which was effective June 11, 2013, it is unlawful for one or more persons to crowd, obstruct, or incommode “(A) the use of any street, avenue, alley, road, highway, or sidewalk; (B) the entrance of any public or private building or enclosure; (C) the use of or passage through any public building or public conveyance; or (D) the passage through or within any park or reservation.” MPD officers are required to issue a move along order instructing any person who violates the above statute to cease doing so prior to issuing a citation. The law does not require proof that the person engaging in the activity actually “breached the peace.” Duffee v. D.C., 93 A.3d 1273, 1275 (D.C. 2014)

Congrats, you're part of the problem. Shipping him off to jail is a) counter productive and b) more expensive than housing.

He should be removed. He should not be taken to jail. My children have watched people sh*tting in the alley and doing drugs on the way to school these past two years because of your misplaced attitude. Caring about people and wanting them to be treated humanely doesn't mean letting people live and defecate and do drugs in the streets. That drags the entire society down.

But you voted FOR this.

You are a democrat, no?

I am a democrat who believes we should clear out homeless encampments and that we should take a hard line on drugs on the street as well as public health threats like people defecating in public areas. These things are not contradictory. I believe in a strong social safety net and spending public dollars to house people and get them into rehab and jobs programs. I'm a big government dem who thinks the government as the power and responsibility to help people.

The problem in DC is that you virtually never have an opportunity to vote for people like this. And if you advocate for it people call you racist which aside from being untrue also tends to halt conversation and lead to stalemate.

What I would like to see is a some law and order black political candidates in DC who will take a hard line on this stuff and clean up the city. You can't have a white politician do it -- it is just politically infeasible. I know lots of black people in DC who have this attitude. But none of them are in politics. A lot of the special interest groups will rip people apart if you take this line -- they call you a cop and a racist and say you don't care about people.

It's really frustrating. There is no reason we have to live like this and if we did it right we could be a shining example of how to handle some of these issues in a major city. Though PP is probably right that DC is unlikely to be able to spearhead this movement because of the Congressional oversight issue -- Congressional Republicans will stand in the way even of policies they support because they explicitly want DC as a political football to point out and say "see look at the failed Dem policies." The Hatch Act also stand in our way because it limits who can run for office in a city full of federal workers. And also the lack of a clear path to higher office beyond DC City Council or mayor means ambitious people skip it.

I think DC is kind of locked into this stupidity and it's a shame.

Dems are opposed to having anyone low income go out of their way. Many years ago they were giving away free computers and they were upset that a 20yo had to ride the bus to pick it up. They wanted to make it easier for her. But, we all go through administrative hurdles. We spend an hour on the phone with the cable company. We make 3 calls to the insurance co. It also builds skills and resilience. It also gives her buy in for the computer.

I think it would be great to have a program like a kibbutz where people grow food, cook food, and clean food. People thrive when they have meaningful work. Social services could be involved. You could limit it to women and children. Or families. Or single men.

Creativity is desperately needed, as well as knowing what it means to thrive. There are studies in retirement communities showing that people who had small tasks that were linked to choices, say about what they’d eat, fared better than people who had no responsibilities and no agency to make choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just throw rat poison on their hands while they sleep

Have fun in jail. Keyboard tough-guy.

Who would ever find out? As far as the police is concerned, the hobo might have died from eating junk on the floor