Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just in streets. In grocery stores, on every corner, walking into streets, banging on windows while waiting on left hand turns. You can’t go from here to there anymore without being harrassed. I’ve been in this area about 35 years and have never seen it this bad.

Maybe we need better social safety nets.

How many of these people are illegally here?

The ones I see all look like they were born here, most are caucasian. Many claim to be veterans.

Ahhh, no. They are black 95% of the time.

In my neighborhood, they are all professional gypsy families. They have housing and get dropped off.

I’ve run in to a few gypsies over the years. I still don’t understand their deal. They are European gypsies presumably? Seems like a great piece of investigative journalism waiting to be written. That and how the Patel clan monopolized the US motel industry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just in streets. In grocery stores, on every corner, walking into streets, banging on windows while waiting on left hand turns. You can’t go from here to there anymore without being harrassed. I’ve been in this area about 35 years and have never seen it this bad.

Maybe we need better social safety nets.

How many of these people are illegally here?

The ones I see all look like they were born here, most are caucasian. Many claim to be veterans.

Ahhh, no. They are black 95% of the time.

In my neighborhood, they are all professional gypsy families. They have housing and get dropped off.

Anonymous wrote:So is there a way to behave so that they leave me alone? I can’t squirt them with water or god forbid throw things at them, but is there a legal way to make them keep away from me? I haven’t had my car window banged on (yet) or my hand grabbed (yet) but how do I scare them off without getting in trouble myself?

Don't give them any money. Plenty of suckers in this area willing to give them a handful of cash and that's who gets targeted

Where are these aggressive panhandlers? I’ve never encountered any like this in my travels through DC.

So is there a way to behave so that they leave me alone? I can’t squirt them with water or god forbid throw things at them, but is there a legal way to make them keep away from me? I haven’t had my car window banged on (yet) or my hand grabbed (yet) but how do I scare them off without getting in trouble myself?

Anonymous wrote:What are you doing to try to solve the problem other than complaining and clutching pearls?

Do you donate to homeless charities or churches? Are you politically involved in trying to find policy solutions? Can you give us some examples of your active engagement?

Lol this is funny
Donate or you will be harassed by beggars or worse, shamed by white liberals

Anonymous wrote:This would not be an issue if people stopped giving them money. So easy yet so hard for people to grasp that concept.

+1 Omg. Guys. The beggars at busy intersections, the people who come up to you in stores with a sob story and try to get you to buy a whole cart of $$$ groceries, the fake violin players, the people with a baby outside at busy shopping centers … none of them are homeless. They are just panhandlers. They make money from this behavior so they continue to do it. If they stopped making money they would move on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just in streets. In grocery stores, on every corner, walking into streets, banging on windows while waiting on left hand turns. You can’t go from here to there anymore without being harrassed. I’ve been in this area about 35 years and have never seen it this bad.

Maybe we need better social safety nets.

I doubt "helping" these people will get them off drugs.
The issue is the social norms of this country. Drug use is kind of normalized (wink wink, hush hush, everybody does it, even movies about how fabulous it is). Panhandling for drugs is normalized. Homelessness is normalized.
There's a lot of normalized behavior in this country that just wouldn't happen in other countries.

This would not be an issue if people stopped giving them money. So easy yet so hard for people to grasp that concept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you doing to try to solve the problem other than complaining and clutching pearls?

Do you donate to homeless charities or churches? Are you politically involved in trying to find policy solutions? Can you give us some examples of your active engagement?

I think people need to stop enabling them. Let's be frank - The panhandling isn't about hunger or mundane needs. There already are more than enough supports and resources to supply that. It's about substance abuse. Incidentally, in DC people CAN legally be involuntarily committed into rehab, but DC lacks the will to do so.

+1. This. It is substance abuse 95% of the time. Do not give panhandlers any money. You are making the problem worse by enabling the addiction. There are resources at their disposable, they just refuse to take it.
They should be arrested if they cannot get themselves off the street.

+1000

It's a simple choice: Either go to the shelter and take advantage of DC's generous social services or get arrested. But public defecation and shooting hard drugs on playgrounds should no longer be an option just because getting clean is no fun.

It is legal to involuntarily commit someone to mental health or drug treatment, it just takes a qualified medical professional to do it. DC should get a plan in place, and start going around and giving them that choice - either they need to clean up and get the treatment they need, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and if they don't like it then they should find a different community to live in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just in streets. In grocery stores, on every corner, walking into streets, banging on windows while waiting on left hand turns. You can’t go from here to there anymore without being harrassed. I’ve been in this area about 35 years and have never seen it this bad.

Maybe we need better social safety nets.

How many of these people are illegally here?

The ones I see all look like they were born here, most are caucasian. Many claim to be veterans.

One told me he was a Vietnam vet. He wasn't 70, so I guess he thought I couldn't do math.

Yea, a panhandler said that to me too once, said he was a Vietnam vet - he was younger than me, I said "bro did you enlist when you were 6 years old?" He totally had no clue, was just peddling a bullshit spiel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just in streets. In grocery stores, on every corner, walking into streets, banging on windows while waiting on left hand turns. You can’t go from here to there anymore without being harrassed. I’ve been in this area about 35 years and have never seen it this bad.

Maybe we need better social safety nets.

How many of these people are illegally here?

The ones I see all look like they were born here, most are caucasian. Many claim to be veterans.

One told me he was a Vietnam vet. He wasn't 70, so I guess he thought I couldn't do math.

They all say they are vets yet can't tell you what their mos is. One guy in Annandale has a sign saying he's disabled but walks up and down with a cane on uneven ground for 9 hours a day. It's really irritating. He could get a job if he wanted to. Also has an apartment a block from the intersection he patrols all day. He gets money all.day.long.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just in streets. In grocery stores, on every corner, walking into streets, banging on windows while waiting on left hand turns. You can’t go from here to there anymore without being harrassed. I’ve been in this area about 35 years and have never seen it this bad.

Maybe we need better social safety nets.

How many of these people are illegally here?

The ones I see all look like they were born here, most are caucasian. Many claim to be veterans.

One told me he was a Vietnam vet. He wasn't 70, so I guess he thought I couldn't do math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you doing to try to solve the problem other than complaining and clutching pearls?

Do you donate to homeless charities or churches? Are you politically involved in trying to find policy solutions? Can you give us some examples of your active engagement?

I think people need to stop enabling them. Let's be frank - The panhandling isn't about hunger or mundane needs. There already are more than enough supports and resources to supply that. It's about substance abuse. Incidentally, in DC people CAN legally be involuntarily committed into rehab, but DC lacks the will to do so.

+1. This. It is substance abuse 95% of the time. Do not give panhandlers any money. You are making the problem worse by enabling the addiction. There are resources at their disposable, they just refuse to take it.
They should be arrested if they cannot get themselves off the street.

+1000

It's a simple choice: Either go to the shelter and take advantage of DC's generous social services or get arrested. But public defecation and shooting hard drugs on playgrounds should no longer be an option just because getting clean is no fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just in streets. In grocery stores, on every corner, walking into streets, banging on windows while waiting on left hand turns. You can’t go from here to there anymore without being harrassed. I’ve been in this area about 35 years and have never seen it this bad.

Maybe we need better social safety nets.

How many of these people are illegally here?

The ones I see all look like they were born here, most are caucasian. Many claim to be veterans.

Ahhh, no. They are black 95% of the time.