Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they have the right will they have a bus to pick them up? As a single mom earning little in DC it took a whole lot of wherewithal to take child across town to oob school. We are tossing that on working transitioning from homelessness family's plates? Or do they get some sort of lifetime special school transport support service?

All DC public school students and charter students get completely free Metrorail and bus transportation to and from school and school activities. There's an article in the Post today that shows its about the most generous school public transit benefit in the country.

Yes, which works great once they're old enough to travel alone. Before then?

A temporary stay in the shelter becomes a ticket all the way through Wilson. Students will ride transit for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll probably continue to donate warm clothing to ensure that DC's homeless community has what they need to survive during these winter months and I'll probably continue to refer any homeless veterans I come across to the Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC) on Franklin Street...oh...wait...did you mean what was I going to do to help the poor, downtrodden and destitute people who have homes in Ward 3 near the newly proposed shelter? Oh well yeah I'm not going to do shit for them they've got a roof over their heads what are they complaining about?

If you really want to help homeless people, you'll support policies that create more living situations and support for them, not stupid political window-dressing. And let's be clear: Bowser's plan of "a shelter in every ward" is just stupid political window-dressing. The insistence on putting a shelter in every ward is what's slowing down the process, and it is what's driving up costs.

Way back in 2014, Vincent Gray proposed a series of small shelters to replace DC General. He specifically proposed focusing on properties DC already owns, and projected that his plan would close DC General by the end of 2016. Here was Gray's plan from 2014 - https://www.scribd.com/document/242972582/DC-General-Replacement-Plan-Final-10-14-14

Bowser won the mayor's office in 2014. So what did she do with Gray's plan? Nothing. It sat on her desk for 2 years, and DC General continued to fester. That's totally Bowser's fault. When Bowser finally got around to doing something about DC's homeless population in 2016 (two years later!), she basically just put Gray's plan back into play. But she did nothing to improve the substance of Gray's plan. The only change she made was to add this "shelter in every ward" concept to Gray's plan. What's been the result of that change? Nothing good. It's slowed down the process even further and increased costs.

If Bowser really wanted to do something to help the homeless, she'd have put Gray's plan in place two years earlier. If she'd acted sooner, DC General would already be closed and the series of small shelters would already be functioning. And on top of that, it would have cost less.

Bowser's just playing politics here. She rearranged Gray's plan for purely political reasons: (1) she juggled the sites to benefit real estate developers who give her financial backing, and (2) she added this "shelter in every ward" idea so she can claim some sort of "equity" prize. Those were both terrible policy decisions. She should have just admitted those were bad ideas and changed course. But now, we're stuck bickering over how to waste money. And DC's homeless population is still stuck in DC General.

If you want to help DC's homeless, then support smart policy. Don't just pat yourself on the back for donating your old blankets; you're just supporting a crony-based political system that uses the homeless as pawns. If we'd had smart policy, over 700 homeless citizens would now have homes. But because we've got stupid politics-based policy from Bowser, our fellow citizens are still trapped in DC General.

Anonymous wrote:

Well looks like the shelter in Ward 3 is going up despite all those wonderful points you made so once it gets up and running I'd say the best way for you and other nearby residents to help the families who will be living there is not to treat em like crap. By all means take your ire out on Mayor Bowser and the Council and whatever other politicians you have issue with if it's not too much trouble try not to shit all over people who are just trying to get their lives back together.

1. I haven't seen anyone - even the people who think this shelter is stupid and who don't want it there - propose treating homeless people who live there poorly. That's just a made-up scare tactic by people like you. All people want good neighbors. If shelter residents are good neighbors, then people will treat them like good neighbors. If shelter residents are shitty neighbors, then people will complain. That's why working with the surrounding community to negotiate a good neighbor agreement should be a priority.

2. It's not so clear to me the Ward 3 shelter is actually going to happen. Isn't it still tied up in legal and zoning battles? I wouldn't be surprised if it gets shelved for reconsideration.

3. I absolutely want people to hold Bowser accountable for this mess. You should too.

Anonymous wrote:

Well looks like the shelter in Ward 3 is going up despite all those wonderful points you made so once it gets up and running I'd say the best way for you and other nearby residents to help the families who will be living there is not to treat em like crap. By all means take your ire out on Mayor Bowser and the Council and whatever other politicians you have issue with if it's not too much trouble try not to shit all over people who are just trying to get their lives back together.

1. I haven't seen anyone - even the people who think this shelter is stupid and who don't want it there - propose treating homeless people who live there poorly. That's just a made-up scare tactic by people like you. All people want good neighbors. If shelter residents are good neighbors, then people will treat them like good neighbors. If shelter residents are shitty neighbors, then people will complain. That's why working with the surrounding community to negotiate a good neighbor agreement should be a priority.

2. It's not so clear to me the Ward 3 shelter is actually going to happen. Isn't it still tied up in legal and zoning battles? I wouldn't be surprised if it gets shelved for reconsideration.

3. I absolutely want people to hold Bowser accountable for this mess. You should too.

Well looks like the shelter in Ward 3 is going up despite all those wonderful points you made so once it gets up and running I'd say the best way for you and other nearby residents to help the families who will be living there is not to treat em like crap. By all means take your ire out on Mayor Bowser and the Council and whatever other politicians you have issue with if it's not too much trouble try not to shit all over people who are just trying to get their lives back together.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll probably continue to donate warm clothing to ensure that DC's homeless community has what they need to survive during these winter months and I'll probably continue to refer any homeless veterans I come across to the Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC) on Franklin Street...oh...wait...did you mean what was I going to do to help the poor, downtrodden and destitute people who have homes in Ward 3 near the newly proposed shelter? Oh well yeah I'm not going to do shit for them they've got a roof over their heads what are they complaining about?

If you really want to help homeless people, you'll support policies that create more living situations and support for them, not stupid political window-dressing. And let's be clear: Bowser's plan of "a shelter in every ward" is just stupid political window-dressing. The insistence on putting a shelter in every ward is what's slowing down the process, and it is what's driving up costs.

Way back in 2014, Vincent Gray proposed a series of small shelters to replace DC General. He specifically proposed focusing on properties DC already owns, and projected that his plan would close DC General by the end of 2016. Here was Gray's plan from 2014 - https://www.scribd.com/document/242972582/DC-General-Replacement-Plan-Final-10-14-14

Bowser won the mayor's office in 2014. So what did she do with Gray's plan? Nothing. It sat on her desk for 2 years, and DC General continued to fester. That's totally Bowser's fault. When Bowser finally got around to doing something about DC's homeless population in 2016 (two years later!), she basically just put Gray's plan back into play. But she did nothing to improve the substance of Gray's plan. The only change she made was to add this "shelter in every ward" concept to Gray's plan. What's been the result of that change? Nothing good. It's slowed down the process even further and increased costs.

If Bowser really wanted to do something to help the homeless, she'd have put Gray's plan in place two years earlier. If she'd acted sooner, DC General would already be closed and the series of small shelters would already be functioning. And on top of that, it would have cost less.

Bowser's just playing politics here. She rearranged Gray's plan for purely political reasons: (1) she juggled the sites to benefit real estate developers who give her financial backing, and (2) she added this "shelter in every ward" idea so she can claim some sort of "equity" prize. Those were both terrible policy decisions. She should have just admitted those were bad ideas and changed course. But now, we're stuck bickering over how to waste money. And DC's homeless population is still stuck in DC General.

If you want to help DC's homeless, then support smart policy. Don't just pat yourself on the back for donating your old blankets; you're just supporting a crony-based political system that uses the homeless as pawns. If we'd had smart policy, over 700 homeless citizens would now have homes. But because we've got stupid politics-based policy from Bowser, our fellow citizens are still trapped in DC General.

Anonymous wrote:I'll probably continue to donate warm clothing to ensure that DC's homeless community has what they need to survive during these winter months and I'll probably continue to refer any homeless veterans I come across to the Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC) on Franklin Street...oh...wait...did you mean what was I going to do to help the poor, downtrodden and destitute people who have homes in Ward 3 near the newly proposed shelter? Oh well yeah I'm not going to do shit for them they've got a roof over their heads what are they complaining about?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is the shelter going in Ward 3 or no?
Yeah it’s going there
And there’s no way to stop it?
Sadly no
So Ward 3 residents are going to have to deal with it/learn to live with the shelter?
Sadly yes
Well I guess the people bitching on this thread better get it together then huh?
Yeah I guess so

Nope, not letting it go. I don’t live anywhere near this shelter so it won’t impact me directly. But it’s a stupid waste of money for purely political optics. Bowser deserves to be criticized repeatedly until the next election.

In the same way, trump is going to be in office making stupid decisions for almost 3 more years, but I’m not going sit back and just “learn to live” with his dumb decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol so what you gonna do?
I mean its obvious you ain't gonna stop being all stressed about this and running your yap about how much you hate it, but that's not gonna affect anybody but yourself (high blood pressure/stroke).
But what you gonna do ABOUT it.

I'm gonna do exactly what most people do in any democracy.

1. I'm going to keep reminding people about all the stupid political games Bowser is playing.
2. I'm going to keep pressing the DC Council to reel in Bowser's bad policy.
3. I'm going to encourage qualified people to run against Bowser in this year's mayoral election and support them.
4. I'm going to encourage others to support Bowser's opponents.

Bowser doesn't appear to be a criminal, and she has generally kept her nose clean. But she's put a lot of terrible policy in place. We can do better.

What are you going to do about it? I'm guessing you'll do nothing.

Anonymous wrote:Lol so what you gonna do?
I mean its obvious you ain't gonna stop being all stressed about this and running your yap about how much you hate it, but that's not gonna affect anybody but yourself (high blood pressure/stroke).
But what you gonna do ABOUT it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is the shelter going in Ward 3 or no?
Yeah it’s going there
And there’s no way to stop it?
Sadly no
So Ward 3 residents are going to have to deal with it/learn to live with the shelter?
Sadly yes
Well I guess the people bitching on this thread better get it together then huh?
Yeah I guess so

Nope, not letting it go. I don’t live anywhere near this shelter so it won’t impact me directly. But it’s a stupid waste of money for purely political optics. Bowser deserves to be criticized repeatedly until the next election.

In the same way, trump is going to be in office making stupid decisions for almost 3 more years, but I’m not going sit back and just “learn to live” with his dumb decisions.

Anonymous wrote:So is the shelter going in Ward 3 or no?
Yeah it’s going there
And there’s no way to stop it?
Sadly no
So Ward 3 residents are going to have to deal with it/learn to live with the shelter?
Sadly yes
Well I guess the people bitching on this thread better get it together then huh?
Yeah I guess so

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they have the right will they have a bus to pick them up? As a single mom earning little in DC it took a whole lot of wherewithal to take child across town to oob school. We are tossing that on working transitioning from homelessness family's plates? Or do they get some sort of lifetime special school transport support service?

All DC public school students and charter students get completely free Metrorail and bus transportation to and from school and school activities. There's an article in the Post today that shows its about the most generous school public transit benefit in the country.

Yes, which works great once they're old enough to travel alone. Before then?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they have the right will they have a bus to pick them up? As a single mom earning little in DC it took a whole lot of wherewithal to take child across town to oob school. We are tossing that on working transitioning from homelessness family's plates? Or do they get some sort of lifetime special school transport support service?

All DC public school students and charter students get completely free Metrorail and bus transportation to and from school and school activities. There's an article in the Post today that shows its about the most generous school public transit benefit in the country.