Increased begging

[Anonymous]

Why can’t the police just take them somewhere else where they will fit in more? I don’t feel safe seeing them in our areas.

[Anonymous]

I always make sure to have some $1 bills so that I can just hand one out every time I see a person begging. Of course I could always tell myself a number of stories about the sins of another person but they would all just be stories in my own mind. Who are we to judge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the beggars I see — especially at times intersection medians, store parking slots, etc. — seem to be part of a larger network. I can no longer count on my fingers the times I see “mom” and kids, or “vet” picked up by some well-healed person in a Mercedes Benz or luxury sedan. It’s ugly.

I have seen an uptick in adult drug use at our local parks. Last week they burned a starter log in the local baseball dugout. There’s a group also camping out at the local McD’s which seems fine with it. What I don’t understand is the permissiveness given that these users and dealers are acting openly on property directly adjacent to schools.

THIS!

Can someone explain this? I'm more used to city homelessness -- 100% of the people in the various tent cities seem to have mental/drug issues; pretty sure they couldn't apply for affordable housing nor hold down the housing if they were to get it. But in the suburbs, it does more seem like these families/moms w/ kids. But then at the end of the day they're picked up by someone. Who is that someone? Do they live with that person or work for them? What is that person getting - a cut of what they collect? But that has to be nothing bc who even stops to give them anything? I understand trafficking where owners of massage parlors/nail salons etc. bring people over and then "own" them bc they get the labor of having the people work in their businesses as they "pay off" their visas/airfare (at least this was the big thing in NYC when I lived there.). But I'm not sure what the economic bargain is here to have a family begging outside of Chick Fil A in Fairfax?

When there comes here, here becomes there

[Anonymous]

Recently we've had groups of people show up begging in our area. A man panhandling by the side of the road, with a woman and small children huddling on the ground next to him. They're popping up in different locations. They look like they could be Roma? I don't know if anyone is giving them money, but I'm not giving them money. The reason I'm not too sympathetic is because they're young, they look fit, there are plenty of jobs out there. I don't know their story but it all seems very staged. If they slipped in commingled with the resettled Afghani, wouldn't they have refugee status, and that comes with a decently generous resettlement package including housing and monthly social security money? I'd be interested in finding out what is included in their resettlement package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should all be ashamed of yourself! Obviously these people are poor and probably hungry and in need of food. Why wouldn’t you help? Something is very wrong that in our inequitable capitalistic society there are so many poor people who need help and so many cold snobby rich people who think they are better than anyone else.

You are very confused. I don’t think I’m better.
I know I’m better. I’m so much better than them.
Hope I’ve cleared that up.

[Anonymous]

Vote Democrat! Your quality of life will e in the crapper, literally.

[Anonymous]

I buy a banana, a bottle of water, and a candy bar in the grocery store and hand them the bag as I exit. It cost me less than $3 most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Recently we've had groups of people show up begging in our area. A man panhandling by the side of the road, with a woman and small children huddling on the ground next to him. They're popping up in different locations. They look like they could be Roma? I don't know if anyone is giving them money, but I'm not giving them money. The reason I'm not too sympathetic is because they're young, they look fit, there are plenty of jobs out there. I don't know their story but it all seems very staged. If they slipped in commingled with the resettled Afghani, wouldn't they have refugee status, and that comes with a decently generous resettlement package including housing and monthly social security money? I'd be interested in finding out what is included in their resettlement package.

People on DCUM need help with both geography and a basic understanding of how the US military works. No, Roma did not cross Eastern Europe into Western Asia in the hopes of sneaking into Afghan crowds and being rescued as allies of the US military. 1) Just because you can’t tell the difference between Roma and Afghans doesn’t mean officials can’t. 2) Even many legit people with papers didn’t get out.

[Anonymous]

There is someone in my condo complex who lives in a nice 1BR. I was shocked to see him panhandling and angry he’s scamming people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you guys have the fake violinists? A guy standing alone and playing lovely classical music. However, there's a little speaker hidden playing music, and he's not really playing at all.

Was this in Loudoun?

No... Kansas City. I saw an article about this happening in Texas too. Just wondering if this phenomenon has hit DC.

There's one in the Giant parking lot at Beacon Hill in Alexandria. He "plays" while a woman holds a cardboard sign with an appropriate tale of woe. It's rather loud due to the amplification.

I’ve seen this all over Falls Church as well. Very loud and annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is someone in my condo complex who lives in a nice 1BR. I was shocked to see him panhandling and angry he’s scamming people.

For several years I used to say the same guy at the Ballston metro during the morning commute - able bodied young man in his late 20s; wearing his North Face; with a sign begging for money to pay off student loans?! Uh what do you think all the people headed to the train are doing? I always suspected he lived in one of the many nice high rises in that area just given his attire etc and this is what he did to supplement his income from YouTube or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you guys have the fake violinists? A guy standing alone and playing lovely classical music. However, there's a little speaker hidden playing music, and he's not really playing at all.

Was this in Loudoun?

No... Kansas City. I saw an article about this happening in Texas too. Just wondering if this phenomenon has hit DC.

Some guy set up this gig at a Walmart I was at, in an outer suburb of Tampa Bay that was rural only a few decades ago-it didn't go well, the pickup truck people weren't impressed LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should all be ashamed of yourself! Obviously these people are poor and probably hungry and in need of food. Why wouldn’t you help? Something is very wrong that in our inequitable capitalistic society there are so many poor people who need help and so many cold snobby rich people who think they are better than anyone else.

We have so many resources in this area. If someone is in need they are in the right place. They can call 211 and someone will guide them to assistance programs. No one needs to go hungry and stand on street corners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is someone in my condo complex who lives in a nice 1BR. I was shocked to see him panhandling and angry he’s scamming people.

For several years I used to say the same guy at the Ballston metro during the morning commute - able bodied young man in his late 20s; wearing his North Face; with a sign begging for money to pay off student loans?! Uh what do you think all the people headed to the train are doing? I always suspected he lived in one of the many nice high rises in that area just given his attire etc and this is what he did to supplement his income from YouTube or whatever.

Wow! Some people have no shame. I would never beg unless it was literally my ONLY option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a business like any other, why would they work? They are mostly “Roma travelers” or whatever the PC name is now. They come with those seeking asylum (they blend in well).
There is a whole underground network with its own mostly cash economy and jobs like panhandling and petty crime.
Nothing is done about it because no serious laws are broken and the notion of quality of life for tax paying citizens is no longer a thing. Just like with mentally ill unhoused and petty criminals from pockets of generational poverty, there is no place to hide unless you are in the burbs with no public transportation and/or restricted access.

Always blaming immigrants.

No evidence cited.

Okay.