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Police slash tents of homeless people (Video)

myfoxtampabay.com — St. Petersburg, Florida - Police officers with box cutters showed up where St. Pete's tent city residents had moved to and set up. They slashed their tents to the ground as residents watched in shock.

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  • soulpunisher, on 10/12/2007, -435/+55Awesome at least someone had the balls to clean up their town!
    • sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -46/+178I can't imagine what that must feel like, what an inhumane thing to do.

      Let's start a fund to buy them all new tents?
    • hambend, on 10/12/2007, -22/+303@soulpunisher
      You stupid bastard. How is the town any cleaner? The homeless people haven't gone anywhere. They aren't any less homeless, quite the opposite. They are now more desperate than before, more disaffected from society, more likely to laugh bitterly when they see "to protect and serve" on the side of a squad car.

      It is wrong to neglect the homeless, doubly so to oppress them like this. People like you, I think, hate homeless people because it's easier than having sympathy for them.
    • ExposeIT, on 10/12/2007, -73/+34In St. Petersburg (USSR), Tent slashes you!

      In all seriousness... what the ***** cops, don't they have better things to do?
    • retral, on 10/12/2007, -87/+8Hairy moooooooooooooooooooole.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -11/+199I spend a large amount of time in the area where this occured and live within 5 minutes.

      As inhumane as this many seem, you can not fathom the number of homeless people in the area. They will take over bus stops, setups tents in front of businesses, etc.. At any given time williams park (1 square block) has at least 100 homeless people just wandering aimlessly and doing no good.

      The method they used is horrible. I do not condone what the police officers did, and according to the local news there is an investigation occuring.. BUT

      There is a severe homeless problem in st. petersburg. Not specifically in numbers, but the density is thick. And the homeless people here in st. pete are far less 'well behaved' than other cities with large homeless populations. It is a major problem and something needs to be done to alleviate their problem(s), which in turn becomes our (not homeless) problem...

      But destroying the little they have? Cmon now. Low class.
    • cptn_cardboard, on 10/12/2007, -48/+6hey, ***** you.
    • sooperdooper, on 10/12/2007, -25/+13So much for "public" property.
      And for what? A fire hazard? They're homeless, not stupid, and an open flame is just about the dumbest thing anyone could put next to, say, cotton. Unbelievable.
      @Soulpunisher: Sorry to jack your thread, you miserable *****, but I was just reading an essay on (very basically) how the focus on freedom of speech in the west drowns out the freedom to survive, which makes illegitimate the starving, homeless underclass.
      @Sockpuppets: Where's the "Donate!" button?
    • pwill, on 10/12/2007, -18/+111Collected from below:

      City of St. Petersburg Home Page
      St. Petersburg Police Department
      1300 First Avenue North
      St. Petersburg, FL. 33705
      Non-Emergency 727-893-7780

      Give them a call.

      For more information on the City of St. Petersburg please contact:

      Robin Mauro
      City of St. Petersburg
      PO Box 2842
      St. Petersburg, FL 33731

      Phone: 727-893-7434
      Fax: 727-893-7712

      Email:
      sppd@stpete.org
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -26/+7Hey, I just realized I was a block away while this occured. Odd.
    • JimV, on 10/12/2007, -26/+11Hey, it's Florida. What did you expect?
    • riah, on 10/12/2007, -17/+24@admirabumblebee

      From what I was hearing on local news in Tampa, Tent City was a peaceful settlement for homeless people with it's own laws and codes. Of course, laws restricting living in tents within the city prevents the settlement, but the city should really use their example to build a similar, official area. Better than having them doing who knows what on the streets.
    • Thex1138, on 10/12/2007, -26/+20Bastard cops! Tools for government and corporations...The bastards!
    • unibomber999, on 10/12/2007, -10/+112What a bunch of dumbasses in the mayors office. First of all, the people are still there, except without tents, great job solving the problem.

      Second of all, how did they not see this public relations debacle coming a mile away?

      And lastly, what kind of ***** is the "fire hazard" excuse? I'm so god damn sick of police just making ***** up in order to impose their will. It seems like for every decent cop, there are 3 assholes that just became cops for the power trip.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -24/+42@riah

      Tent city was (is still technically) less than peaceful. There are often police vehicles there with officers settlign petty disputes, there have been multiple hospitalizations from attacks and fights and in 2004 there was a tenty city a few blocks from where they had it recently and they had very nasty food poisoning instance due to food stolen from a shelter (that's righ, food was stolen from a shelter and distributed by residents to the residents).

      It's a massive nuisance.

      I really dont think people on digg will understand that unless they live with it daily.

      Not all homeless people are evil, nasty, stupid people who forced their will on themselves... but unfortunately here in st. pete we seem to attract the majority of the afformentioned :( I've been all over the united states and due to my interests often find myself in poverse areas and the homeless people elsewhere are signifcantly tamer and moderate compared to those in st. pete.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4@unibomber

      "The people" are not there. There's a few left but only because they are right near a local shelter.

      Those who took that street home from taco bell tonight raise their hands... *raises hand*.

      Anyone else?
    • Alphabet, on 10/12/2007, -6/+41I have a friend that works in the medical industry and he tells me that most homeless people have a mental problem(either from drugs/alcohol, childhood abuse, traumatic experience, or born with it). And then there are those homeless people who are normal but have really bad luck.

      Anyone saw that Oprah show where they gave a homeless man $100,000? The homeless man then spent all $100,000 in a couple days, while ignoring the plea of the producer to invest the money or see a financial planner. In the end, he was broke again and still homeless.
    • dagonweb, on 10/12/2007, -24/+16I see there no lack of volunteers in the US willing to support the extermination of the poor. Will the same people be manning the incinerators in a couple of years? I bet they will.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -5/+51@dagonweb

      I'd love to exterminate the poor.




      (by helping them become "middle class.")
    • Gir53457, on 10/12/2007, -24/+799% of homeless people are crazy, lazy or stupid. The other 1% are down on their luck and strive to make it back to the living world.

      I live in Concord (thirty minute train ride to Oakland and forty-five minutes from San Fransisco) and frequent the major cities often. I see A LOT of homeless people every week and know every scam they try to pull, from helping tourists and asking for a tip in return, (Extortion) donation boxes for the homeless, (Booze money) and pretending to be mentally retarded or crazy so people will bribe them to go away. The only homeless people you should ever give money to are the elderly women beggars and the mimes (Those guys work for their money).

      Homeless are hardly the merry hobos in train yard who would sing a sing at the tip of the hat. And large congregations of them usually lead up to fights or worse, getting stabbed and killed. They also scare away people and hurt businesses.
    • Xageroth, on 10/12/2007, -6/+37Meetings at the Mayors' office.
      St. Petersburg, FL

      Mayor: I'm bored. What do you guys wanna do today?
      Police: We could harass kids at the mall.
      Mayor: Nah, I don't need any parents ringin my phone all day like last time.
      Police: Well, there's always the homeless.
      Mayor: Excellent idea! Let's piss off the homeless.

      ... seriously, what good does taking their tents even do? It seems like that would just make things worse. The homeless will have even less respect for the law, hate society, *and* be worse off. Who does this help? I hope someone gets sued on their behalf. I don't see how the police can have the right to destroy someones property like that.
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -10/+35I don't see a homeless problem. I see a ***** society problem. You think it's just a clutter and a nuisance to have them around, how do you think they feel? If the homeless are too numerous in your area, it's not the homeless people's fault, it's the area's fault. If there were no regional problems like this, the percentage of homeless people to everybody else would remain more or less constant over the whole of the country. Instead, we have certain areas where the percentage skyrockets. It's not like the homeless people pack up and move because a particular city has mood lighting hidden in their bridge girders. People are homeless in your city because that's where they went broke. There is no finger big enough to point the blame for problems like this, because it's everybody's fault. We're so concerned with "number one" in this country that we forget about all those other people out there.

      Now what am I gonna do with all this soap?
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7I would like the point out that I didn't say "everybody else". I acknowledge the fact that homeless people, by and large, are just as responsible for their situation as the rest of us. I'd say it's about half and half. Half their fault, half society's fault.
    • JonLatane, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20@combatchuck

      I'm afraid I have to disagree with you based on personal experience. I'm not familiar with Tampa Bay, but Chapel Hill, NC - the small town that is built around UNC Chapel Hill, where I go to school - has a massive homeless problem. The homeless here are generally good people, although when there are outliers, boy, are there outliers.

      Anyway, during a conversation with a homeless man at the bus stop I learned that he, along with (according to him) most of the other homeless people in the area had come from other areas - he was from Brooklyn, and hundreds more came from the Northeast, along with Florida and Atlanta. And asking him if he ever wanted to improve his life, he said he was perfectly fine where he was and had no plans to make any changes.

      Why does Chapel Hill have a homeless problem, even though the majority of the population is well-educated? Because they're too damn well-educated. People here are friendly to the homeless, extremely friendly. Apparently word has traveled through the grapevine to many communities that Chapel Hill is a place to be.

      So no, a homeless problem isn't necessarily indicative of economic problems in your area, or any area close by. It could just be a homeless retirement community.
    • whitesaint, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5@admirabumblebee

      I just wanted to verify how right you are. I live about 10 miles north of St Pete and there are a lot of trashy places in very bad condition there. I went to a high school years ago in St Pete and there were homeless people EVERYWHERE. Granted I don't agree with destroying their tents, but I think people don't understand what condition St. Petersburg is in. Yeah it is a decent sized city and one can expect to find ghettoes but the ghettoes there are huge.
    • dmjarrington, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29Here's a follow up on this story.

      "After police used boxcutters to slash and destroy several homeless people's tents, ministries and community members came to the rescue overnight. They set up fire-resistant tents, and brought fire extinguishers. Homeless advocates are now considering legal action against city leaders."


      http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=2121365&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
    • thepompano, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15@admirabumblebee

      I live in St. Petersburg, I work a couple blocks from Williams Park, and I almost totally disagree with you. In my experience, the homeless were not "poorly-behaved". In fact, I've only seen one homeless man commit a violent act - and it was against a tree. If you listen to the homeless for more than ten seconds, you find out pretty quick that they're not violent criminals or drug addicts: they've got mental disorders that need to be diagnosed.

      I think Tent City was a MIRACLE for St. Petersburg - it was a rare congregation of people that who would normally be out on the streets begging for cash and it compressed them into roughly one city block. If you think the homeless should be helped out, then how easily could the police have sent out more doctors and psychologists to their temporary homes - not to treat them - but talk to them through their problems, convince them to seek help, or convince them to go to shelters? And what's going to happen now that the homeless community is going to wander back out on the streets, and the authorities cannot track them down?

      The leveling of Tent City was a pointless act of violence against a people who had nothing and the PR disaster could have easily been avoided. As for the "fire hazard" excuse - MY guess is that they decided to rape Tent City because of the commercial development going on in the area. It's easier to send a problem underground and hide it from the public than it is to actually fix it.
    • CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9florida is hideously intolerant towards poor and homeless people
      there are few social safety nets here and it is very difficult to get unemployment. most of the time the state wont give you the benefit of the doubt and actively try to prevent you from getting benefits. i know this because ive been scraping by the past couple months as a layed off tech worker after having moved from california where unemployment during tough times is alot easier to come by.

      unlike los angeles, ive never seen SO MANY poor people here.
      starvation is quite possible down here in miami and i'm sure other parts around the state as well.
      a few months ago they were talking on the news about a kid in fort lauderdale who beat and killed a homeless person.
      its unbelievable to me the intolerance i see towards the poor here.
      you can kind of get a gist for it by watching the movie "Monster" about the serial killer prostitute.
      back in LA most homeless people i would see were either insane or heroin addicts. here it is quite possible to find a hard working person on the street unable to better their situation.
      we're looking to move back to los angeles. we've seen what its like now when you dont have taxes to support social safety net programs and its very ugly.
      my heart goes out to all these people here who are struggling. ive tried to seek out churches to see how i could help out the poor but so many people dont even seem interested. many people down here are wrapped up in selfishness or a "***** you. ive got mine" attitude.
      i wish humanitarian aid would get involved and help this place because it seems to bleak.
    • CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@ iamcitizen

      they wont care. accountability is broken in florida.
      my girlfriend and i call or write the corporate headquarters of companies about all sorts of blatant safety violations and such about businesses in florida and the corporations simply cannot get stuff enforced in this state.
    • ajb2015, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3another case of "it's okay if the government does it." it is totally unnecessary. at the least they could've just disassembled the tents.
    • fofusion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5FOLLOWUP: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=2121365&version=6&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
    • turpialito, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@soulpunisher
      Is that you or your sphincter speaking?
    • Petrarch1603, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2of course florida is going to have a booming homeless probably in january. all it takes for a homeless person to leave chicago or NYC is one greyhound bus ticket.
    • codyallen, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0aw hell yea, now all those ***** up hobos have to sleep on the ground, woo hoo hopefully theyll die faster now so we dont get aides, maybe we can start a fund to go back and smash those bastards and take all theyre money, jk (they have no money)
    • koontzorama, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I hope those police officers lie awake in their warm beds tonigh knowing they took the only source of shelter from these poor people.

      With one bad decision or a little bit of bad luck, you could very easily be in their position. Don't be so quick to judge.
    • Carteelith, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2WHAT IS WE DOGS?!!
    • Fentekreel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3though giving a homeless person money really doesn't help their situation it only helps keep them where they are at. Now if these people could prove to be productive members of society if we could get them some sort of work that they could do. Though taking their city down in such a manner sucks these people need to rise above being homeless and improve their lives....or found a city somewhere outside the city limits and try to groupe together for their common cause....which hopefully is survival....
  • BigBadger, on 10/12/2007, -77/+6This is a bad thing how?
    • delta013, on 10/12/2007, -6/+66The tents are the only thing these people have for shelter. Without them they have to sleep in other places where they are more exposed to weather, disease and crime. These people were originally living in a tent city setup by a church, but were kicked out by code enforcement. The tent city allowed them enough protection to get a goodnight sleep and find a job. You try "sleeping" out on the street with one eye open and see if you can hold down a job.
    • hellomynameisop, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3"hey, ***** you"
      -cptn_cardboard
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -17/+24There's a dozen missions 4 blocks from that location where they can get free food, shelter, and work. Only one problem: they can't be drunk or high to go to the missions. They have plenty of places to stay, trust me, I work next to them.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1The poor are always to blame for their situation! Never empathize or care about them at all, always blame them and make excuses for those who've exploited them, (loaning people money that doesn't exist through fractional banking at payments after a few years they won't be able to make and then taking their homes when they fail too isn't unethical, it's "just good business").

        "They have plenty of places to stay, trust me,"

        No, I won't trust you.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -15/+25GeneralAntilles, I think you are mistaken about the "free" part. Shelter's usually cost about $10 a night, many cost more then that. They probably offer free food, but many don't even do that. Don't act like it's ***** easy to be poor and oppressed in the united states. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You sound like a huge *****.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -14/+20What are you talking about? Are you just pulling facts out of your ass to support your bleeding heart position, now? I've been to the shelters, I know the owners and operators. IT COSTS NOTHING TO STAY IN ANY OF THOSE SHELTERS IF YOU NOT DRUNK OR HIGH AND ARE PEACEFUL WHILE YOU STAY.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1And I'm sure there's room to support all the poor people who need them right? If only those sub-humans would take one of the plentiful jobs that pay a livable wage which are available in our economy, (don't look, just pretend they are), and stop doing stupid and evil things like drugs they would be just fine!
    • wuxia, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3It never fails to gain my interest in how much time and energy that Americans put into talking about 'homeless' people. As most americans have no idea how 3/4 of the world lives I can only say that Americans have the fattest and richest homeless people in the world.
      What was done was certainly inhumane but its not the end of the world.
      To all homeless that take advantage of the internet and read Digg, " Suck it up, buttercup".
    • BigBadger, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4I'm guessing all the bleeding-heart SOBs digging me down don't live in a big city, or they'd be a little less whiny about homeless "rights", or as I like to put it, "homeless wrongs".
    • JBek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Not bad if it isn't happening to you but if you end up in this situation I hope you have friends to help you out cause assholes like you sure as hell aren't going to give a ***** about your problems.
  • mpredosin, on 10/12/2007, -6/+102It looks to me like the police are destroying private property by slashing the tents.
    • ufia, on 10/12/2007, -15/+5No *****, sherlock!
    • arabidturtle, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1It's private property on public property. The police can either ask you to move to take your stuff. I don't think they have the right to slice and dice it like they just bought some magic bullets though.
  • alcoholanon, on 10/12/2007, -6/+50The police have become the criminals in St. Petersburg, Florida.

    The citizens have become the criminals if this is permitted to continue.
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2"The citizens have become the criminals if this is permitted to continue."

      That's a fight the citizens can't win. The police force will inevitably receive backup from the national guard, and eventually, the US military.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1If not allowed to live free, what should the citizens do? Cower and placate or fight anyway knowing they'll die?
    • Dolomite, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Can anyone get in touch with Kevin Rose? Surely digg.com can donate some more tents to these poor people, We diggers need to stand together. I know digg can afford it so lets all do our part and demand digg.com donate some money and tents to these people.
    • df12, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@Dolomite

      Isn't it interesting that you're getting dugg down.... Someone should do something! As long as that someone isn't us..?
  • alcoholanon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20[url]http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=2115929&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1[/url]
    Officers destroy tents; Mayor backs melee
    Last Edited: Friday, 19 Jan 2007, 5:26 PM EST
    Created: Friday, 19 Jan 2007, 5:21 PM EST

    ST. PETERSBURG - The city of St. Petersburg's battle against its homeless residents escalated today when police slashed their tents to the ground and threw them away.

    Homeless bystanders stood by and watched in shock, many with tears streaming down their faces.

    "This is sickening," said Viola resident, whose tent was cut up and thrown out.

    The plan was put together by the mayor's office, and the city police and fire departments.

    Fire department personnel and police showed up around 4 p.m. near the intersection of 15th Street and 15th Avenue North.

    [B]Earlier this week, homeless residents were told they were okay to set up their tents at that location.

    But city officials said the tents were a code violation and a fire hazard.

    Fire/rescue personnel closed off the street, then about 25 officer went to work with boxcutters.

    They cut the tents to ribbons, and then threw some away, but left some on the ground.

    They didn't move any of the belongings inside the tent.

    The homeless nearby watched in shock.

    One man was bent over, in tears.

    "What are we, dogs?" said Wilson.[/B]
    • orientis, on 10/12/2007, -22/+12Wilson clearly said "What is we, dogs?"
    • Tenlow, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36Maybe they can stay at the mayor's house till they get on their feet again. I mean it's the least he can do after he took their living space away.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2The mayor pays taxes too.

      You know the taxes that help pay for that city land the tent city was setup on?


      Howabout this. Since it's obviously the mayors fault they did something illegal (note sarcasm), the homeless people should have the opportunity to impound his car when he illegaly parks. That would make more sense.
    • lunasunshine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Fire department personnel and police showed up around 4 p.m. near the intersection of 15th Street and 15th Avenue North.

      [B]Earlier this week, homeless residents were told they were okay to set up their tents at that location.

      But city officials said the tents were a code violation and a fire hazard."

      Just thought this part should be highlighted. they were told they could be there. how can anyone argue for the cops here? this makes me so sick.
  • alcoholanon, on 10/12/2007, -6/+41
    City of St. Petersburg Home Page
    St. Petersburg Police Department
    1300 First Avenue North
    St. Petersburg, FL. 33705
    Non-Emergency 727-893-7780

    Give them a call.
    • thumperings, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I just did thanks.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -42/+2More reason why Digg will never sell for any amount of money. Becuase people don't like piefces of ***** who have a "LEt's GIT 'EM" white trash mentaloty.

      Yes..you are trash, and always will be. You are an embarrassment to your family.
    • lunasunshine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6broomett:

      do you even know what white trash means? taking a stand for what you believe in, and using your non-violent voice to make your opinion heard (to the police who work for you) is not being white trash. just wanted to clarify for you.
    • OnAnyMouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So did I. Send hem the Digg link, your comments, the Myfox link, and anything else to let them know they've made national news.
    • CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6they wont care
      that is the typical attitude in florida
      i know because i live here but i moved here from somewhere else
      people are so selfish and heartless here its unimaginable.
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"More reason why Digg will never sell for any amount of money. Becuase people don't like piefces of ***** who have a "LEt's GIT 'EM" white trash mentaloty."

      If that was really an issue, digg could just start banning people who post that sort of thing. Nearly every other forum on the internet already does, including fark and 4chan.
  • alcoholanon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20For more information on the City of St. Petersburg please contact:

    Robin Mauro
    City of St. Petersburg
    PO Box 2842
    St. Petersburg, FL 33731

    Phone: 727-893-7434
    Fax: 727-893-7712
  • alcoholanon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Email:
    sppd@stpete.org
    • OnAnyMouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3also, gary.wessel@stpete.org (Communications department)
  • 1kewldude, on 10/12/2007, -6/+28Being a local resident here and following the story as the tent city had just recently been moved, i could not believe this when i watched the news - society continues its declination - unbelievable that this even occured - the night before 2 homeless men were murdered in the same area the NIGHT BEFORE the tent city slashing, so as i see it the police are now encouraging murder of the homeless but tearing apart the only place that they have to keep them safe for the night.

    http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/1196623351.html?dids=1196623351:1196623351&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+18%2C+2007&author=ABHI+RAGHUNATHAN&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=1.A&desc=Homeless+men+found+slain+in+early+hours
    • 1kewldude, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Correction, it was reported the day before, but the crimes happened 2 days before - regardless - brutal timing there mayor baker
  • tcwood00, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11thats kinda ***** up
  • venicerocco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Quite shocking.
  • zombiedepot, on 10/12/2007, -4/+41Meanwhile real crimes are being committed somewhere in the town...
    • TheRascalKing, on 10/12/2007, -3/+44Can't you see these are the real criminals. I mean, they are sleeping... in tents! Who cares if there are drug deals and murders happening, these guys are living in tents. We gotta do something about this!

      ***** cops.
    • zombiedepot, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1I wonder if they kindly asked them to move the tents or if they just showed up in a SWAT van full of cops armed with utility knives.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -27/+8You have NO idea until you live here. The homeless population is responsible for a very large portion of crime in the area.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Then arrest them when they commit those crimes, don't slash their homes due to your little guilt by association reasoning.
    • cptn_cardboard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12@admirabumblebee

      yeah, lets just piss off the criminals, that'll make em less disgruntled.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -10/+10No, You're assuming I am saying all homeless people are criminals, and that's not what I was saying.

      The homeless population in downtown st. petersburg is responsible for a large portion of crime in that area. Their ability to gather and congregate in such a manner does nothing to help the situation.

      This tent city they had going was also underneath a fairly well trafficked underpass (under the i375 on ramp), if there was some sort of accident there could have been many lives at stake.

      As I said above, What they are trying to accomplish needs to be done. How they did it is absolutely horrible.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1"Their ability to gather and congregate"

        Their right to assemble?
    • norml2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@admirabumblebee

      Whats your issue. If you don't want them there why are you so concerned if they get hit by passing vehicles. They would be out of your hair then right?
  • jodokast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21Had to be in Florida.
    • Protonz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+35There is a reason that Fark.com has a tag for Florida but no other state.
  • Farik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Am I the only person who noticed Ray Liotta crying in this video?
  • Xanadude, on 10/12/2007, -50/+4Fact: most homeless people are assholes. Don't believe me? Spend some time talking to them.
    • n0sferatu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25Fact: Wrong, you are the *****.
    • burningmonk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31You'd be an ***** too if you had no money, no job, and your ***** tent, your only home, was torn down by a bunch of cop with money, jobs, and roofs over there head. I know I'd be an *****.
    • kurish, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0yeah
    • mrbobo34, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Who do you think you are? You have a lot to see of the world, son.
    • burningmonk, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8BTW, it's three in the morning here, so please forgive me using 'there' instead of 'their'. And I am majoring in English for *****. Also, feel free to digg this down. I just needed to redeem myself before someone called me out on it.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -24/+10Trust me, these people are assholes and it's nobody's fault but their own if they're living on the street (half dozen missions with free food, free shelter, and work available 4 blocks from this tent city). I work very close to this tent city and have to deal with anywhere between a two and a dozen of these scumbags a day who try and harass customers and other employees. One of the managers has been assaulted twice by drunk losers and I had a guy threaten to come back to the store after we closed to kill everyone who worked there after I removed him from the premisses. These people are not poor, hapless innocents who've been trodden under the feet of the rich, these people are criminals.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10hey GeneralAntilles, go ***** yourself

      honestly, if you were homeless it would be hard for you to get a job too. and don't act like you or other well off people don't get drunk too. your perception of deviance is ***** up.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -16/+2Try living and working in the area before you tell me to go ***** myself.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -10/+8Seriously man, you may know homeless people.. may have met some.. may have even been one...


      But until you live, work and play in downtown st. pete, you have NO IDEA what it's like. The homeless people here are a complete different breed. I am speaking from many years of experience. Not only having lived here a long time and being very active in charitable organizations, Ive been to many other poverse neighborhoods (mostly for ***** punk rock shows)... it's just way different.

      But I guess by reading most of this topic that most folks on digg assume that all people are the same, with the same motives and ideas and should be treated equally no matter what. (ironic with the whole comment digging concept)
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12GeneralAntilles,
      You can't deal with the homeless people because you are an *****. I'm not the smallest bit surprised that you have a hard time getting along with these people.

      You still don't seem to understand that you have a house and they don't. You have a shower to clean up. You have toilet paper always there to wipe your ass. You have soap to wash your hands. You have way more clean clothes then they do. You can go drink on the weekend and not get criminalized. You have an education. You have food. You have a computer with the internet. You have heating and cooling. You have access to a car.

      go ***** yourself ! ! !
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4Why? Because I WORKED FOR IT. If they want these things, they can work for it, too. But they don't, because it's too much work to work for it.
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11All of the homeless people I've ever talked to have been completely harmless. When I was working at a local burger joint, there was a guy that would camp out in the far corner of the lobby, just keeping warm. Nobody seemed to mind him, and he didn't bother anybody. A while ago, I saw a woman digging in the trash can outside of a gas station. I thought she was a bottle picker, but she actually picked out a styrofoam takeout box and started picking food out of it. I've never felt like such an *****. I would have offered her a warm meal, but I had just spent my last money on filling up my car. I couldn't offer her a ride to a shelter because it was 10 PM and the shelters here lock their doors at 6. I had to just walk by, and I had nothing to offer for help. It's a sick feeling when the only thing you can do walk past somebody in 30 degree weather to get in your warm car and go to work like nothing happened. I suppose that now I can console myself with the fact that AT LEAST I DIDN'T DESTROY HER ***** HOME.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2Great, well that's nice, but maybe you should try interacting with some of the homeless around here. Trust me, they're not harmless innocents.
    • 47f0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11"Great, well that's nice, but maybe you should try interacting with some of the homeless around here. Trust me, they're not harmless innocents."

      No, they're not harmless innocents - in this case, they've forced the police to violate the constitution they were sworn to uphold. They have forced the police to behave illegally. There is no doubt in my mind that you're cheerleading those police at this moment. Are you totally missing the slightly more grim picture here? What, exactly, protection do you have for your rights to personal property when we throw those rights out the window for any section of our citizens?

      Jeez, wouldn't it have been easier to just walk through with napalm? And just as legal.

      Look - when the police can act in this manner - ***** homeless are the least of your problems - the very least.
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I don't doubt that there are a lot of homeless people that are vile and dangerous. I'd be willing to bet that it's about on par with the average of the rest of the human population. In my experience, though, most homeless people are just genuinely broke and have nowhere to turn. I don't know what St. Petersburg is like, but I doubt it's anything like where I come from. You and I come from different worlds, though. In my city, the poverty line and the per capita income are separated by less than 10 grand [1]. In my city, it's normal and even expected that you will get some utility shut off at least once a year. While you may see a homeless person stealing from a store or digging in a dumpster, I see a person scavenging for their next meal, because they don't know where else to get it from. It's all about perspective. Here's some perspective. I fully expect the 2006 state minimum wage increase (from $5.15 to 6.95) to have a MASSIVE positive impact on the per capita income here, on the order of 10-15%.

      [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michigan#Demographics
      The per capita income is $15,733, and (even though it's not on the wiki) the poverty line here has always hovered around the 8-10K mark. The median income is misleading, because it's taking into account the west side, which although technically a part of the city of Flint, only around 2,000 people live there and make a TON of money. They're the people that own the party stores and houses for the other 130,000 of us.
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Before somebody points it out, yes I see the "crime" section just below the statistics. Here's my pre-rebuttal: The vast majority of murder and theft here is drug-related, committed by people who have homes. By "vast majority" I mean, I've never seen or heard anything about a homeless person getting arrested for any kind of felony in this city, ever. Of course, I've seen drug dealers dealing on the open street right into a police cruiser, so ....
  • homerj14, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10how the ***** can they do this? when did it become Illegal to have a tent on the ***** ground that no one owns
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5The land is owned by the city. It is underneath an on ramp for an interstate.
    • avolant, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13we the people
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1In soviet Russia, "we the people" owned everything, not just the land. Of course, "we the people" are alleged to act through our representatives, who in fact do not in any way represent the real desires of "we the people". "We the people" may own it, but "they the government" gets to use it, decide what to do with it, and keep us from it.
    • Innatech, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7City land or not, they're destroying private property--more alarming in this case as the property in question takes the form of a kind of dwelling.

      Evicting them would've been too much trouble, eh? They just would've moved down the street? So what are they supposed to do now, curl up and die? Most likely, this is an attempt by the city to be so hostile that some of the homeless population will move to an area with a less agressive police force--just a few steps away from rounding them up at gunpoint and putting them on buses to other cities/states.
    • Protean1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3CITIES ARE NOT PEOPLE.
      They don't have any ***** rights.
      Corporations ARE NOT PEOPLE.
      They don't deserve any special ***** consideration or rules.

      ONLY PEOPLE, living, breathing PEOPLE should be seen as
      such in the eyes of the law. ***** this 'corporations' are given
      human rights. Cities are treated as 'human' entities with 'rights'...

  • Karted, on 10/12/2007, -30/+1Go flip some burgers, Bums.
    • fitchmicah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13and why don't you just explain to me, since you seem to know, how exactly you would go about getting hired when you have no house, no car, no place to shower, and hardly any social capital?
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -14/+7There's two day labor places about 5 blocks from that location that hire people like that all the time. If they wanted to go to work, they certainly have no lack of options, but it's easier just to sit in a tent under the overpass drinking all day and harassing people for money.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -11/+8Able Body will hire ANYONE. In fact, they will pick you up AND cloth you for the job, and sometimes will drive the entire bus to the Y for folks to take showers and clean up.


      There's no excuse except disability, and even then I can think of half a dozen options.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1And after how many years of work at $7 an hour, (which they must pay taxes on, repay their current defaulted loans, and feed their families with), will they be able to buy a new home again?

        Here's a better idea. Let them farm some of the millions of acres of land that isn't being used at all, creating their own shelters from the resources available there, and be self-sufficient and no drain on anyone. But we can't do that because if that option existed, too many people would take it, and that would result in fewer desperate people willing to work for ANY wage, which would allow wages to go up.
  • alexanderpink, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Yeah it was good that they cut down those fire hazards so that never again could people risk injury by cooking or smoking in their tent...I mean it's not like they are in danger from not having a ***** HOUSE. Retarded.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Except the whole bit where a fire could close down a major on ramp for the interstate. (because they setup the tent city under one)

  • Silt, on 10/12/2007, -27/+7I'd feel sorry for them...but I'm guessing 95% of those homeless people are homeless because of poor decisions in their lives (drugs, crimes, thinking they were too cool for school, flat out laziness). They honestly have no business setting up a vagabond retreat on what I'm assuming was public property. Everyone wants to make the police out to be villians (shocker!), but I sure as ***** don't want some homeless camp setting up shop anywhere near where I live and would applaud the police if it happened here. I don't need them making my neighbord dirty and smelling of piss...cause they use the nearest brush or tree as a bathroom...and when they finally do move on to contaminate another area of town..they never clean up their mess.
    • alekgv, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16yeah, it MUST be the homeless' fault for being homeless, and in turn we shouldn't care about them, cuz, well, you know, they're not really people or anything like that.
    • orientis, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10I hope you're a Christian so Satan can have fun torturing you. If not, you're an arsehole in this life anyway, that should be punishment enough for your peers.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2alek...as opposed toy your ***** of "It MUST be someones else's fault." Guess what? The majority of homeless people ARE homeless through fault of THEIR OWN.

      Go ahead, blame society if it makes you feel better about your worthless life. Just realize how ***** stupid you seem. Of course, since this is Digg, you get dugg up. Beciuase Digg is a ***** joke filled with people who will never have any actual friends in life.
    • Silt, on 10/12/2007, -19/+4@orientis

      Sorry, I'm not a Christian. I'm not some hypocritical fool that picks and chooses what parts of a work of fiction to follow and what parts not to follow (which typically means not following those parts that hamper what you wanna do in life).

      Sorry, I'm no "arsehole either". What you think these poor homeless people are just trying to catch a break? Please. Wherever they roam, crime and garbage follows. Check out any 60 Minutes or 20/20 type show about homeless. Watch and see how they are offered jobs to do work to earn money and see how many of them turn down the work and just want a handout. Sure, a few may have just had really bad luck in life...but most are a plague to society. It shouldn't be the government's job to help those that refuse to help themself. ***** that. Why should I put in 40 hours a week and have my tax dollars go to some bum that can't get off his ass to work at McD's?
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I do believe a large number of homeless are mentally ill and I don't know of too many places that will hire unstable people.

      Besides, unless you have a permanent address, it's difficult getting a job: do you really think an employer is going to hire someone who doesn't have a place to live? It's difficult for an employer to put their faith in someone's ability to reliable if they don't even have a home. Go try and find a place that will hire you after you tell them you have no address and phone because you live on the street.
    • mrbobo34, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11@ Silt

      After carefully considering what you said, I still think you're an arsehole.

      Unfortunately, you also strike me as more than a little misinformed and extremely prejudice.
    • orientis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9@Silt

      "What you think these poor homeless people are just trying to catch a break? Please. Wherever they roam, crime and garbage follows."

      -- Thus they are evil and must be destroyed? You'll find most marginalised minorities in society turning to crime. Why is that? There must be no explanation whatsoever! Let's ignore everything except for the fact that they perpetrate crimes!

      "Sure, a few may have just had really bad luck in life...but most are a plague to society. It shouldn't be the government's job to help those that refuse to help themself. ***** that. Why should I put in 40 hours a week and have my tax dollars go to some bum that can't get off his ass to work at McD's?"

      -- You have never been homeless, have you? How do you apply for a job when you can't take a shower? When your clothes consist of dirty rags? When you have no address to put on your application form?

      I understand that homeless people cause problems. Everyone understands that. It's just that some people have the balls to stand up and take some responsibility for the culture and society they live in, instead of pretending it's all a giant abstract force that just happens without explanation or reason. You throw your hands up in the air and say they're all dirty criminals. You take no responsibility for your culture. You are a prime example of a NIMBY, self-obsessed and selfish. ***** you. ***** you very much.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Well said. The only thing I'd like to add to that is that even if they did get a job at McD's, they aren't being given a livable wage.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -10/+9I'm friends with the owner of an antique shop in the area. He's handed out hundreds of business cards over the past 10 years to panhandlers around town and at the ramps of the interstate with job offers for several dollars over minimum wage, not once has he been taken up, trust me, it's their own damn fault.
    • Silt, on 10/12/2007, -10/+8@orientis

      Your kind always wants everyone, except those at fault, to take the responsibility. Sorry. It's not someone else's problem to take care of the homeless...the homeless should be doing it for themselves. Instead, they sit around and drink all day and bug hard working folks for money...all while making a pig sty of the area they have chose to infest. Why don't these homeless go to shelters? Oh..that's right...shelters don't allow people in with the stench of alcohol on their breath.

      And boohoo if they can't find a job cause they don't have an address. They should have thought about that when they were ***** up the early parts of their life. As always in this country, it's always the fault of someone else..and never the fault of those that ***** up.

      So yeah..go ahead and call me names cause I don't want my tax dollars wasted on people that ditched class in high school to get stoned..then 15 years later woke up with nothing and hold their hand out..
    • alekgv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@broomett

      that wasn't the point of my argument. the point is that no matter what cause these people have for being in their current situation, they are still people.

      yeah, i know a bunch of homeless people and many are homeless as a result of there own decisions. many even choose to live on the streets (they prefer the lifestyle, may sound strange but i've even considered it; a life with no responsibilities, no work, etc.). but a large percent of these people are unable to work or live "normal" lives due to disabilities or drug addictions.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4Exactly, so why do their choices become my problem? So I'm supposed to pay them and have them continue to harass me at my workplace? No, that's the trouble with living in a free country, you also have to face the consequences of your actions. Tough? Yes. But your other option is communism where the state tells you what to do and when to do it.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1If it was a free country they could go build a quiet farm somewhere and live off the land. Nope, we can't let them do that.

        "But your other option is communism where the state tells you what to do and when to do it."

        Whether it's the state, or a corporate oligarchy posing as capitalism, either way someone who could care less about you is telling what you must do and preventing you from being able to survive on your own terms.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5GeneralAntilles, so how would you feel about working a full time job without having showered in two weeks and without a house and without a car? how would your customers feel about that?
    • alekgv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@GeneralAntilles

      I never said anything about paying them. It doesn't cost you anything to just leave them alone and not ruin their homes. Just because you cut up their tents you can't expect them to just go away; they're gonna sleep somewhere..
    • 47f0, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Hard to tell whether the Admiral or the Generalissimo has the bigger circumcision scar on their forehead - I'll call it a draw.

      You two have the concept that society has zero responibility for its shortfallings - you are as lazy and contemptable as some of those you point your finger at. Where was your ideal, irresponsible society when some of these homeless were enduring childhood abuse you can't even dream of? Where were you when you shortchanged mental health facilities that due to budget cutbacks have a revolving door policy that keeps putting some of these folks back out on the street? Where were you when your WalMart stock went up a quarter point because they dumped American workers by shipping their jobs overseas - to a communist regime?

      I'll tell you where you were - cheerleading all the wrong things. Get a clue - you and these homeless have one thing in common - you're both citizens. You both have a right to personal property. But you'd be the first to scream if the cops slashed up your personal property. You'd scream that it was a violation of your rights - but apparently, in your society - only your rights count. That's a shaky foundation. Real shaky.

      This is rapidly becoming the land of "I've got mine - screw you buddy". Worse yet - it's becoming the land of the vanishing constitution. This was not a legal act.
    • Innatech, on 10/12/2007, -1/+547f0 hit the high points nicely.

      I just want to emphasize that we live in a heavily stratified society, and not everyone has the same "life-chances." While being born into poverty doesn't doom someone to homelessness, it makes attaining a normatively "successful" lifestyle much more difficult and presents them with innumerable impediments, all in a situation where resources are so marginal that any unexpected problem can lead to sprialing consequences.

      In short, wake up and smell the inequality before you rail about laziness, etc. Poverty is not a moral failing.
    • covertbadger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+347f0 also misses the point, made repeatedly, that jobs and shelter are available to these people and they refuse it. Don't talk ***** about 'life chances' - they HAVE life chances and choose not to take them. That is laziness, and it is their fault.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1They refuse to take the few bad options we give them, and try to live on their own! Setting up tents on unused land, how dare they!
    • 47f0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Talk about missing the point.

      Point one, and it's a bigggg one - if you condone the police destruction of private property at the whim of the state you missed the regime bus. That should never, and I mean ever be the road we start down.

      Point two, please do get it through your head that there are some totally worthless homeless jerks - the exact kind of idiots that for a whim of fortune, we find posting here in smug self-satisfaction instead of camped in a tent - still being jerks. I'll never deny that.

      But there's a big, big chunk of these people that are flat not functional on one level or another - the fact that they can get in your face, harass you and generally be a nuisance doesn't mean their circuits aren't a touch crosswired. We really, really have turned our back on indigent mental health in this country, to our shame.

      Point three, have you ever lived in a tent? I mean lived, for an extended period, like more than a weekend campout? I have, by choice, because I was fortunate enough to have the leisure to do so. But it's not, I repeat, not prime housing. So it makes you wonder just what the wonderful shelters must be like - if living under a shred of fabric is preferable. Maybe the shelters need to examine what they're doing - because there are shelters that work - clearly these don't.

      Point four - I've done some of these wonderful day jobs. Nearly half a century ago, I found myself homeless, by choice, at sixteen, and had to take some of these jobs. They were, shall we say, interesting. I couldn't do any of them now. I just couldn't. Many of them operated outside of any sane health and safety guidelines. Not all of these homeless are even remotely healthy and sixteen.

      Your attempts to assuage your social conscience are strangely evocative - I've heard them before: "Are there no Union workhouses?" "Are there no prisons?" - "I can't afford to make idle people merry. I have helped to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough" - "If they would rather die, then let them, and decrease the surplus population"

      One would hope we had advanced since the days when Dickens penned those words. Apparently not.
    • covertbadger, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Firstly, your point about police destruction of private property is insultingly narrow-minded. If I pitch a tent in the middle of the high-street and refuse to move, should it be allowed to remain? How about in a parking lot? In your front yard? On the middle lane of the highway? How about if it's not a tent, but a hut? A trailer? Just because these people own their tents, doesn't give them the right to pitch them anywhere they ***** like. When the police tear down tents that are legally pitched with the landowner's permission then I'll stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you to protest it. Don't try to pretend that this story is even faintly analogous.

      Secondly, what makes you think that your experiences 50 years ago are relevant today? 50 years ago black folks could be arrested for not giving up their seats on the bus. Whilst I don't claim to have detailed knowledge of what shelter-provided work entails, I don't accept that what you did half a century ago is automatically a fair comparison. Of course, if you know better I'd be interested to see.
  • charmander, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Couldn't they have given some warning, like posting signs a day before?
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5They did give warning. There is a shelter nearby that organized the tent city despite being told by the city that the area they planned to do it would not be in line with city ordinances.
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Telling the shelter vs. telling the people who are actually the ones living there are two different things. That would be like the bank sending a notice to one of your neighbors that they're going to repossess your car unless you pay them $X: they're not telling the people who need to know.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2No, That'd be like You putting on a party... and the police tell you that you cant have the party there. You fail to tell all the folks you invited.. They get in trouble because of it.

      Is it the police's duty to tell all the people you invited, or was that your responsibility?

      Replace "you" with Shelter and party with "tent city" and I think you'll understand it a bit better.
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, that doesn't work. I've never heard of people attending an "illegal" party who were never informed by anyone that it was, in fact, "illegal" (that's basically what you're saying).

      It's like this cop some years back who seemed to think I should just KNOW what the speed limit was on a certain road despite the fact that there was no sign stating the speed limit. This is part of the reason why we have police officers: to make inform people when they're breaking the law and then to enforce the law. You couldn't just demolish someone's house without actually informing the person who owned it: the city, town, and/or state would get sued.

      I'm not sure where it says public lands can only be used by American citizens who pay taxes. I guess this means that anyone outside the country visiting the U.S. isn't allowed to step foot on any public land, huh?
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3Ever heard the phrase 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'

      It is your duty s a responsible motorish to know the speed limit.

      The Shelter that organized the gather was told they would not be allowed to hold the gather there (though they WERE told such a gather would be allowed at another location), and they did not inform the residents. The shelter is at fault IF anyone was...

      If you do something that is illegal, no one needs to tell you to stop or warn you before you are arrested or cited.


      though, once again.. I do think how they went about it was incredibly nasty, the fact remains that your argument against it does not hold ground.
    • Innatech, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1More from the Admiral in the "Pulling it Out of Your Ass" Department.

      Google "basic speed law".

      And, BTW, the fact that the police did warn whoever was setting up the tent city that it would not be tolerated (if that's true) is the most useful point you've made in any of these threads.
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ignorance can be an excuse, especially when the expectation of knowledge is unreasonable. The moment you fight a speeding ticket, in court, when the speed limit is not posted, the ticket gets dropped.

      So what you're saying is it's ok for the police to destroy "homes" when they're deemed a fire hazard? Funny, I've never seen or heard of the police take a wrecking ball and chainsaws to buildings because the fire marshall closes it due to fire hazards.
  • amberonius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17This just killed the good mood I was in today. I personally know someone who was homeless, lived out of a tent for a 2 years and held a full time job. He showered at local churches and YMCA's. Now, years later, he has his own house and a family, and is working hard to help other homeless people do the same. It just goes to show how someone can turn their life around, and I'm just disappointed these people can't find a leg to stand on because of the town government.
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7That's funny, all the people who proudly claim to be followers of a certain deity constantly tell me people are homeless because they're lazy and remain homeless because they're too lazy to help themselves out....Your story has turned my world upside down! *sarcasm*

      Seriously, that kinda makes me feel better to read something like that, and hopefully exposure through the media (they're good for some things) can help some of these people out, too.
  • cmiz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7It's that "are there no prisons?" mentality that keeps our society back. Want a great way to get homeless people off of the streets? Get them places to live! If they can work, help train them and place them in a job (and set them up with affordable housing). If they're mentally or psycholgically challenged (a lot of people end up homeless because of this), let's get them the help they need and find them an assisted living option.

    I don't intend to sound like I'm attacking Pres. Bush... but don't you think we could do something about all of this with the $200b/yr that we're putting into the war in Iraq? I bet more people have died from hunger and exposure than 9/11 and the war combined.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1Yeah...and giving them a few billion (and $200 billion a year is the ***** that the utlra left is spewing now for the cost of the war?) will REALLY help.

      Hey...let's give them some crumbs for a few weeks.

      I love the "Let's just give them jobs." mentality. Yeah...it is that easy to create jobs out of thin air.
    • Dragular, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4"Affordable Housing?" Please don't take this as an insult, but damn, you are one dumb bastard. It's called HUD, housing projects, whatever. Back in high school I lived with my dad in a local housing project--we qualified, even though he was working a semi-decent job. And you know what rent would be for these people, more than likely?

      Negative *insert whatever the average cost of utilities is in your area*.

      That's right. They'd be getting PAID to live there.

      "Oh, but Dragular," I hear you cry. "If it were that simple, these people would have already done that!"

      Yeah, maybe, sure. Then again apparently according to the dude who, you know, actually lives there, there are numerous shelters in the area, and these people decided to illegally put up tents under a bridge. Seems like they're avoiding the simple steps to me.
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1odds are, they make it easier to use and abuse the system (like they've done with welfare) than to actually use it in the manner it was intended.

    • cmiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@broomett: well if $200b (which is the figure I've heard most often) isn't correct, would you like to enlighten me as to what would be a more modest proposal? By "use the money to help the homeless", I didn't mean throw it at them... but I liked the straw man argument. Perhaps a federal work initiative similar to the one set up to help people during the great depression.

      @dragular: "Please don't take this as an insult, but damn, you are one dumb bastard." -no offense taken. I'm not entirely sure what the requirements are for getting affordable housing around you, but I know that in my area, you have to show that you hold a job. That's the problem, there's a difference between "low income" and "completely homeless". The homeless usually don't hold a steady job and without a place to live and clean up, they probably won't be getting one any time soon. My argument was not that providing more affordable housing would fix the problem, but that after we train homeless people and set them up with jobs (via some federal work initiative), they will be in a position to obtain affordable housing and we may need more of it.

      Also, I noticed that nobody touched my argument about the psychologically disabled, which accounts for a surprisingly high percentage of the homeless...
  • tylercrowley, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I live in downtown LA in the heart of the homeless tent area.
    I talk with them and even make videos with them, acting like real people, good people with smiles and laughs like anyone else.
    see for yourself -- http://bigbignews.blogspot.com/2007/01/special-report-word-on-wall-st.html
    *note- this is shot directly infront of my building
  • HouseofEl, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4So nice to see that they are able to "protect and serve" the public. Too many cops now do neither. Not all of them, but I've seen too many that are just nobodies on a power trip.
    • Dragular, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1When's the last time a member of your family got gang raped and murdered by a group of deranged people dressed like clowns?
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Well, now that you mention it...


      Some time last week, I think. Boy, what a wild party.
  • RooDoG, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6No notice at all? Just a "Hey, I'm going to slash your tent right now.... OK?"

    This should not be allowed to continue without some sort of punishment towards the city or police department.... its just not right to begin with.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8They DID GIVE NOTICE.

      FFS, people on digg are ***** idiots.

      *sigh* Back to my hole, there's no point anymore.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6It's the groupthink mentality, if you don't follow the dogma, then get the hell out.
    • Innatech, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Or slap a rank designator in front of your nick and parrot ill-informed dittohead ranting that characterizes poverty as a failure of personal morality.
    • trevor1189, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"They DID GIVE NOTICE.

      FFS, people on digg are ***** idiots.

      *sigh* Back to my hole, there's no point anymore."

      Well what the hell were they supposed to do, say "Oh, the city wants us to stop living in our tents, ok we'll just go home."

      They have no where else to go, so even if they gave notice, it wouldn't do any good.
      You are an *****.
    • covertbadger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@trevor1189

      They could have gone to the any of the number of FREE shelters in the area. Still can, in fact - except it means they have to be sober and behave themselves, which apparently is enough of a deterrent to keep them away.

      You are a cretin.
  • 47knight, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4How sick can you be? I can't believe those cops.
  • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I wonder if St. Pete is going to bother to compensate these people for destroying their property.

    What makes this even sadder is the fact that the Mayor's office, etc. and the police department couldn't face the press. Bunch of cowards who are more interested in property values there (the city still isn't that great, despite the fantasy world these officials like to live in) than they are in finding an amicable solution.

    I can't remember if it was in St. Pete or in Tampa a couple of years back, but police were arresting anyone who was giving homeless people free food like sandwiches and such in an effort to try and feed them. Again, no good excuses came from any of the higher-ups, just a bunch of b.s. I'm starting to feel glad I moved away from the area once I graduated college.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5How about they pay the city for using their land for a month? I don't think those tents are going to quite cover it.

      Of note, these are not tax payers, so they're not entitled to use the land.
    • JamesConnolly, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Not tax payers so they are not entitled to use the land?

      HAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHA

      Your posts have always been funny - because you are a ***** moron, but that one tops all.

      I see kids playing in parks. We should go and toss them in jail for playing in public parks - ***** mooching 4 year olds, they aren't tax payers. And don't give me crap that their parents are...because I'm sure these homeless people had parents who, maybe, were tax payers - so that shouldn't matter.

      It doesn't matter that most homeless people are mentally ill. ***** them. The US has a great safety net. It's called having a wealthy family. You fall on your luck, maybe your father will buy you a baseball team. You don't have a wealthy family - TOO ***** BAD. Not my problem.

      It's people like you and admirable-*****-bumblebee who are truly deserving of the suffering that is so unfairly placed upon others. But, you're lucky, because should something ever happen to you or your confused brain that results in you needing help...there will still be those that disagree with selfish assholes that are like you. And these misguided bleeding hearts will try to keep you fed and sheltered, even though you deserve such suffering.
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Again, if you could show me where it says that you must be a taxpayer to use public lands, I'd concede that point.

      Sure, there are places these people could go, but there is no system in place that is designed to SOLVE the problem. As I said somewhere here before, it's like the welfare system: it's way too easy to mooch off of it, there's no real incentive (or means) for people to get themselves off of welfare (other than pride).

      Yeah, there are shelters and such that are designed to "help" the homeless, but those places are just to make the rest of us sleep better at night. These places and programs don't actually help the homeless for the long term.
  • DrLawyer, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9Just got off the phone with the cops there

    explanation:
    Fire dept. said the tents were too close, had to do something
    also on city property

    rational rebuttals
    condos, apartments... close?

    city property... "lets slash cars that are on city property! They are awfully close together!"

    goddamn

    ***** over the helpless, who will have to scrounge new tents and rebuild in same or similar locations.

    Rapists, murderers, methmonkeys, run amok! We have a homeless problem over h'ya!

    "won't somebody please think of the childrenzzz!!!@@@"

    I suggest massive skype harassment for that police dept. for a good long while.

    The DrLawyer
    • tylercrowley, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I called as well, and emailed... if everyone does... it WILL make a difference
    • guregu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Be mature. Acting like a jackass isn't going to solve anything.
      • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Submit to tyranny != being mature.
    • wuxia, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2@DrLawyer

      I am sure the police will be happy to know that you called them a few hours ago and are now threatening abuse.
      Harrassment of the Police dept. Why would you do that? So that 911 calls couldnt get through?
      Just an FYI. I am sick of all the abusive language and terms of service violation on Digg. I am reporting every person on this page that cant control their filthy typing and abusive behavior to Digg Abuse.
      If Digg is ever going to be a legitimate corporation they need to take TOS violations seriously and clean up the language. Or better yet just remove the comments feature all together from Digg.
    • NonServium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Somebody should destroy those cops' homes.
  • kazuhima, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4THATS. *****. UP.

    somebody set up a tent foundation for those guys :( id donate.
  • DrLawyer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1on a related note, I called them via skypephone.

    They apparently have no filter (Ricky Gervais Voice): So....

  • 5DMT, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9Welcome to the United States of Fascism.
    • DerProfi, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4Welcome to digg, home to vast legions of whining teen drama queens.
  • interpaul, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Police Slashing Tents = Police State Tentative
    • kurish, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Mr. Mojo Risin' = Jim Morrison
    • night141, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Finally! about halfway through someone finally mentions that America is a police state. I was worried there for a moment.
  • Beaver6813, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3This reminds me in someway of massacres in third world countries, obviously noone was killed but the police going down there with their knives cutting peoples homes to shreds. Its wrong.
  • kurish, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6nerd riot!

    somebody ddos the police station's web server!
  • liquilife, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13You know, having worked at a homeless shelter for several years I know first hand that most people continue to be homeless because they are either alcoholics, drug users or just too damned stubborn to actually accept any help from the homeless shelters around town.

    Most homeless shelters have a zero tolerance when it comes to people entering the door with the smell of whiskey on their breath. Most homeless shelters are unwilling to put someone up who is all drugged up. The stubborn people refuse to stay at the homeless shelter.

    The truth is that a majority of homeless people choose to be homeless. They choose to continue drinking or doing drugs over a warm roof over their head. The stubborn ones choose their pride over help.

    I know this doesn't fit the 'The Police are EVIL!' thought process but it's still true. Think with your brain on this, not with your heart. All the author is doing with the description is tugging your heart strings, and it's working.

    And no, most homeless people are not nice. They are generally very mean spirited, dirty and could care less about anyone near them.
    • kazuhima, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7it doesnt matter how they act, right now..

      what matters is that the tents belonged to them and the police just started slashing them without warning of any kind!
    • liquilife, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5It's tough, I agree. I guarantee you though that these people have been warned many, many times over. What do you do when someone is parking their tent on public territory and they refuse to move? Throw them in jail? They lose their tent anyways and everything else except what they fit in their pockets.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4you describe these homeless people as "drug users" etc. guess what? so are rich people! how are you going to blame the problems on their decisions to drink alcohol or do drugs when so does rush limbaugh and so did the president of the united states?
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2They don't wander the streets, scatter trash all over the place and assault people.
    • JamesConnolly, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6@liqui-whatever

      Yeah you sound like the sort that would volunteer your time. Just by your conclusion - I know you are full of *****. You never worked at a shelter. You think by making such a claim that makes you an expert?

      Over 1/3 homeless people have mental issues that are directly related to their homelessness. That isn't by choice. For instance, did you choose to be such an idiot? No. It's the cards you were dealt with, though I hold you more accountable because the severity of your mental disorder isn't as great.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeless

      A lot of sound reasons are listed, but none of them as simple as "They are lazy".

      Or general-***** who goes on about his antique dealing friend who is offering homeless people wages at 2 dollars above minimum wage...yeah that's believable. That doesn't sound like complete BS. I guess if you keep saying it, maybe you'll believe it, then maybe you'll feel righteous and not like the worthless, selfish, piece of trash you are.
    • covertbadger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@JamesConnolly

      "A lot of sound reasons are listed, but none of them as simple as "They are lazy"."

      Point out the bit where liquilife said laziness was the reason they were homeless. Can't do it? Didn't think so. If your mind wasn't so fogged with undirected self-righteousness, perhaps you wouldn't look quite so stupid. Mind you, the frequency with which you've made yourself look stupid already on this thread means you are probably unsalvageable at this point anyway.
    • liquilife, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@JamesConnolly: Hahah. Holy ***** dude. If I was homeless I'd rather kill myself then have you defending me. Anyways, I never once said they are lazy. I have also spent my entire life helping those in need of help as a devoted case worker, protective payee, lunch cook for the homeless shelter, etc. because I was once in the same ***** situation and used services provided by the City to get OUT of my homelessness. Now JamesConnolly, go crawl back under a rock and quit acting like a total dumbass.
    • JamesConnolly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@covertbadger
      You're witty. Ho ho ho.

      Just kidding. You're a worthless moron. Point taken,
      @liquiwhatever

      "The truth is that a majority of homeless people choose to be homeless. They choose to continue drinking or doing drugs over a warm roof over their head. The stubborn ones choose their pride over help."

      Spoken like a true advocate. While you may not of went as far as to directly say they are "lazy" - your claims of the majority choose to be homeless is still complete BS.

      But, like covertbadger - you're an idiot. That's really the only explanation for why you post what you post. I hope poetic justice pays you a visit and you get to experience something like this. Then you can have zitty faced ***** say you choose to live that way blah blah blah
    • covertbadger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@JamesConnolly

      Thanks for failing to address any of my points, which is a pretty fair indication that you have no counter-argument. The fogginess of your thinking is becoming more and more apparent though. How many times do you need to be told that these people have a choice? That if I was in that position, I could choose to stay at one of the many nearby shelters, for free? I've never argued that *all* homeless people have the choice, but those in this particular story most definitely do. And don't think we haven't noticed your frantic back-pedalling over your false claim that liquilife said the homeless were lazy. Feels pretty silly to rant and rage in public only to have it pointed out that you have failed to understand the thing you are attacking, doesn't it? I'm not surprised you've gotten all aggressive, all the better to silence the ringing of humiliation in your ears when you realised your mistake. It doesn't prevent people pointing and laughing at you though.

      Still, it's quite clear that nobody is going to pierce the hazy clouds surrounding your brain on this subject, since you obviously are one of those pitiful folks that grip onto their ill-conceived notions like a pitbull no matter how often the fallacy of their argument is illustrated. One last time for the road though: THE HOMELESS PEOPLE OF ST PETERSBURG HAVE A CHOICE. THERE ARE FREE SHELTERS NEARBY THAT THEY CHOOSE NOT TO USE, AND AVAILABLE WORK THAT THEY CHOOSE NOT TO DO. ERGO, THEY CHOOSE TO LIVE ON THE STREETS AND BEG.
    • Uberdork, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Bush scatters trash and assaults people. It's just on a much, much larger scale.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1What the hell does this have to do with Bush?
  • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -9/+13I had to drive by the tent city they had setup under the overpass on PUBLIC PROPERTY every morning on my way to work every morning over the holidays. Absolutely disgusting that that was allowed to be setup in the first place. Williams park (about 16 blocks east of that location right in the center of downtown) filled up with homeless over the holiday. Williams isn't a place where you'd want to go during the rest of the year, but there were gaggles of people with garbage bags and shopping carts wandering around all day. It got to the point where one couldn't even go downtown because of the panhandlers that would harass you every 10 feet. St. Petersburg's downtown is a mess because of all the derelict alcoholics and drug addicts they have running around (especially when they come south during the winter). At least we don't have the violent stab-you-in-the-throat-types that they have in Tampa, but it sure as hell makes it hard to run a business anywhere near downtown.

    Moral of the story: if you don't want to have you home cut down, don't live in a tent on public property.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4you know what, ***** you buddy

      your whole concept is ***** high and mighty, and I can't take it.

      you need to go experience what it would be like to have no money to go to the shelter, no clean clothes, no car, not enough food, no place to live, and a tent cut to shreds by the ***** police. not to mention that you would be constantly stigmatized by assholes like we have here on digg claiming that it is your fault that you don't get a job, as though it would be just that easy to get hired without a ***** car, house, clean clothes, place to wash, or any social capital.

      is it these peoples' fault that their schools failed the ***** out of them when they were younger, or the fault of well off whiny tax payers?
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6But it IS easy to get a job, I work a block away from a day labor place that will hire ANYONE, no matter what. Often times they'll clothe and shower you, too. Your high and mighty attitude is killing me. Obviously you're more sophisticated and know better than me what's right.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5@phmfthacim

      you have no idea what you're talking about

      It is very easy to get a job if you are very down on your luck, there are a number of places in the city that will not only hire almost anyone, but they will pick you up, cloth you and find you shelter at the end of the day.

      I live here, I am NOT rich (though im doing fairly well now considering). I have had to rely on these services in the past and it is NOT difficult by any means.
    • banderbe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@GeneralAntilles

      Bravo. Your comments are some of the only intelligent, rational ones on this entire thread. Not surprisingly, the horde of idiots that comprise the Digg user base are digging you down.
  • sachmanb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6A lot of cities do things like this to drive the homeless out (and naturally they just go to a different city, and overall nothing is solved except the condition of these people is worstened, and so the 'social' problem increases as well). They did this pretty intensely in Oakland, California and when Toronto, Ontario tried it - it resulted in an anarchist group of student lawyers banding together called OCAP. They would have the homeless people give them the unwarranted tickets and they'd represent them in court. This tied up the courts resulting in them needing to purchase more real estate, and most of the tickets were thrown out. The city eventually stopped harassing the homeless because they knew the costs would just end up coming to them as opposed to their original plan: give the homeless so many tickets, that they don't appear in court allowing them to be jailed.

    In Santa Barbara the police would simply use hoses and hose down homeless in the Park, wrecking whatever good they had on them.
    • alekgv, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1lol@ "anarchist GROUP of student LAWYERS"
  • Monk22, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0hilarious, get a job.
  • whackaxe, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5***** the Police. Who's the dumb bastard who thinks thats going to change anything? are the people who lived in them suddenly going to find the money to buy a house? nice job making a bad problem worse. aren't you US citizens worried by the power that your police force has nowdays?
  • Neoartvive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is nothing new. Happening in cities around the country. Not to long ago in Fresno,CA the city did something similar, except they threw away everything away including their personal documents necessary to identify themselves like social security cards and state ids. Now how in the hell are people confronted with this situation are suppose get a job or identify themselves? Another interesting thing is that the city counsel did not offer to help the individuals in which they help destroy their home until the local tv station and news paper brought it up.
  • IIIKrazyKiDDIII, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8Its time to get the wrecking ball and "slash" the police's homes. If I was a police, I would have quit on the spot if I was ordered to slash somebodies home. My integrity is more important than money.
  • dagonweb, on 10/12/2007, -8/+6Before deciding the world doesn't need you, these homeless can do the right thing.

    Shoot a cop in the face. Maybe more than one?

    What you got to lose?
  • tanside, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Sounds like some cops need their houses destroyed so they know what it feels like.... protect and serve? i don't think so.

    P.S. haha that was funny the add for homes before the video played, classic.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -10/+7Cops pay taxes, and own the land that they live on, these people don't pay taxes, didn't own the land they lived on, and were warned that by setting up a tent city here was against city ordinances and it would be shut down.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6hey GeneralAntilles, shut the ***** up! you're rich and these people are poor, yet somehow you are a bigger ***** then any of them!
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2In a debate, the loser's final option is to attack the person rather than the issue.
  • salinemist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I'm a UNIX admin and just became homeless, no one can tell because I smell the same as before.
  • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Of note: THANK YOU SPPD!
  • vstmonger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2It seems like our modern day society wants to punish anyone who doesn't fit into the box.
    Not everybody is capable of making the right decisions as far as work, school, and drug abuse go. The cost to society as a whole would be a lot less, in the long run, if everybody was given a place to live and food to eat. Just because someone has a problem with drugs or alcohol, or anything else, including mental illness or laziness, doesn't give others the right to punish them. I would like to see those public workers loose their jobs, not be able to find any, and end up livening on the streets for a while. I bet they would all be singing a different tune then. Homeless shelters are no solution, and only help to make people feel less dignified.
    • DerProfi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"The cost to society as a whole would be a lot less, in the long run, if everybody was given a place to live and food to eat."

      Hey Einstein, have you missed the 10 posts above pointing out the large number of local charity options available to these people? The only requirement is that you be sober. Not too much to ask, don't you think?
    • Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Spoken like someone who has never hit rock bottom and still manages to keep falling.

      Have nothing in life and we'll see how you feel about being sober.
  • Silt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0oops wrong reply
  • barret232hxc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I seriously never have thought so low of the police. taking homes away from the homeless is just cruel. I've been to st pete before and the homeless there are actually nice and not rude like the ones in orlando. They never harmed me and I don't believe it's right what was done.
  • SweetBearCub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm seeing a lot of hostility for homeless people here. I have a question for the Diggers out there. Please read it completely, and then reply.

    Would you begrudge a man the right to be homeless if the following conditions were met?

    1) Already on disability, has been for years. Certified unable to work a regular job. Repairs & Builds PCs in spare time for cash.
    2) Lives in a van which looks deceptively normal. A largish minivan, well kept, in good driving condition, and fully legal.
    3) Van is equipped with all the comforts of home, scaled down for space reasons. Bed, bathroom, shower, kitchen, GPS Nav, PC Diagnostic Equipment, etc...
    4) Waste & litter are dumped in proper places.
    5) Man is not wanted by the law for any reason.
    6) Man does not drink or smoke.
    7) Man does not cause any loud disturbances.

    An answer would be appreciated.
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4No, assuming he didn't come to my home or business to harass myself, my customers, or my guests. But that's just the problem, NO homeless person is existence matches these criteria and if a person did, one would be hard pressed to tell that they were homeless. The homeless people in downtown St. Petersburg are the type of people that come and piss and ***** (yes, *****) on my place of work, harass my customers, harass my fellow employees and attempt to steal anything that isn't either A. over 100lbs or B. bolted down.
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Uh.. He's not exactly homeless if he has a nice van like that. That van you described has more than I have and im a hardworking indivudual.

      And your supposed homeless person also has a job and state income.

      What your describing is called being poor, not being homeless.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4GeneralAntilles,
      where else are they supposed to relieve themselves? in their houses? I'm sure they get kicked out of gas stations and restaurants for trying to go there. I'm getting extra sick of reading these arrogant comments of yours
    • GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Those wonderful missions that are all over the place in St. Pete, that or PUBLIC RESTROOMS. That, or home about I bus them out to your house to have them take a ***** on your front door every morning, that way you can lick their asses for them after their done since you seem to love them so much. No, not into that? Fine then, stop telling me to deal with it then.
    • SweetBearCub, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1General, yes, you are correct that if someone met all those criteria then people would be hard pressed to tell that they were homeless. Unfortunately, I have met people who will do all they can to make my life a living hell, just because they can, and they think that they are 'better' than me in some way, and thus that I am not deserving of a quiet night. I experienced this a couple of years ago when I was forced out by a less than stable room-mate, and had to live in a tiny Honda hatchback for a few months. It was better than a shelter.

      Currently, I am in the process of getting ready to do exactly as I outlined in the parent post. It's a much better option, since maintaining an apartment here with all its attendant expenses takes up close to 90% of my income, and it is a dangerous neighborhood. The van would give me back a big chunk of money which I could save up, and I'd feel much less trapped since I would have complete freedom to wake up to a different view every morning if I so chose to. But the day I shove off, people will find a way to be mean and hurtful. For example, I know a guy who does just as I outlined. He works during the day. When he comes back to his van at night, he gets in, closes the door, goes in the back, unwinds, and goes to bed. The rear living area is cordoned off from view by a large interior colored blanket, and the windows are blocked by blinds. He makes no undue noise. Yet, he has had police show up when he parked in residential areas (street parking) that forced him to move on, because they had received citizen complaints. Those "citizens" had nothing better to do, so they made my friend's life miserable.

      I wonder, how long until cops start slicing through the sheet metal walls of vans?
    • monsieurgrand02, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And how many of these types of people really exist? You would probably only need one hand to count them all. And they probably don't pay taxes either...
    • Rikkochet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No, not at all.
      If I could honestly trust each of those things about said person, I'd even offer him a spare room in my house and try and help him find something to get him on his feet.

      But your hypothetical homeless person isn't anywhere NEAR what you described.

      I should preface by saying I'm from Vancouver, Canada. We have a huge drug problem in the downtown area, and we have great social assistance.
      You know why I consider myself a good person because I don't spit on the homeless I see begging for money? Here's a few reasons:
      1) Most of them are already on welfare. You know how I know that? On welfare cheque day, there's an incredible flurry of activity at lottery outlets, liquor stores, and around Main St and Hastings (where there is a 24/7 police presence, if that tells you anything) where Honduran drug dealers sell out of their $100,000 cars. People on welfare bring in more money than someone working full time at minimum wage.
      2) They lie. Desperately. I get the "Excuse Me!" speech constantly when I'm walking alone. It's always an amazing sob story about some series of misfortunes that befell them. I tried buying a guy food once, after he asked me for food. After he chased me to the pizza joint and kept asking for money instead, he refused the food.
      3) Meth teeth.
      4) There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of shelters in the area. Periodically they actually overflow if a bad cold snap hits, but the rest of the time there's plenty of space. Only problem is, the shelters aren't located near lots of working class people to pester for money, or nice cars and businesses they can break into to steal *****.


      Trust really is the issue. If I believe someone wants to better themselves, I'll spend hours and hours helping them. I won't give a person money. EVER. If they're serious, I'll buy them some cheap clothes, do their laundry, help them write a resume, whatever. Only problem is, from where I'm standing, the only homeless folks I see want a handout, not a hand up. The "homeless" who don't just want the handout are helping themselves up and can do it with social assistance.
    • phmfthacim, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4GeneralAntilles, I'm sorry that they ***** on your lawn, but you need to realize the real problem here. The real problem is not them ***** on your lawn. You are blaming the victim. You bitch about them ***** on your lawn, but they don't have a ***** place to live, and people like you are constantly blaming them for being denied opportunities that middle class white people get every day.
    • SweetBearCub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1monsieurgrand02,

      As to how many of these types of people exist, take a look at the Yahoo! group "VanDwellers". You'd be surprised.

      As for not paying taxes, you are incorrect. To avoid legal harassment, we pay our