Reply to Let's join forces to scrap the current homeless shelter plan and start over

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "Let's join forces to scrap the current homeless shelter plan and start over "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OK, without blaming the homeless here, have you all considered that the reason for putting a shelter in Ward 3 is for basic fairness for people who live in other wards?

Go ahead and acknowledge all the terrible things you want about the homeless.

Then ask yourself:  if they are so bad, is it fair that they all go in one area of town - whether it is Ward 7, Ward 5, or Ward 3.

Of course not.   If you believe that a homeless shelter will cause problems - crime, drug dealers, school overcrowding, whatever the concern may be - then no  taxpaying, homeowning, citizens of the District - regardless of what ward they live in - should be forced to deal with 100% of the negative externalities.

There is no perfect solution here, but given the above, the most equitable solution is to spread out the homeless families in small shelters all over the city.

So reframe your thinking - putting a shelter in Ward 3 is not about what the homeless families want (or arguably about what they need), but it is about basic equity and about what taxpayers and homeowners all over the city want - to not have 100% of the burden of the homeless in their community.[/quote]

Sorry, but how is it good public policy to take extreme social problems, including drug abuse, street crime, etc., and introduce them into heretofore relatively safe areas that haven't had those problems?  It's like saying that since Ward 8 is plagued with a lot of violent crime, DC should provide free Uber rides to street criminals so they can  ply their predatory trade in neighborhoods with low crime rates, just to spread crime around in the name of "fairness".  (That is, assuming that the Uber drivers aren't robbed on the way across town.)  It's really a hare-brained scheme, motivated by DC's version of the politics of resentment, Bowser's way of stoking the base.  But not even our former Mayor-for-Life tried anything quite so foolish as this.[/quote]

You're a real peach.  It may come as a shock but there's already crime in Ward 3.  [/quote]

True but irrelevant as you know full well. The crime in ward 3 pales in comparison to the frequency and severity of the crime east of the river which is why Ward 3 is so popular among the homeless advocates and Mary White Guil Cheh. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics