Hemming Park Homeless Numbers Swelling.

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Here is one store owners response to the homeless situation in San Diego...

POSTED: 6:52 pm PDT June 17, 2010
UPDATED: 8:16 pm PDT June 17, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- A sticker with the phrase, “Please don’t feed our bums” is stuck on storefronts around Ocean Beach, based on satire of The National Park Service’s “Please don’t feed the bears” sticker and bringing a serious message.

“People who live and work in the area know how it feels to be harassed by these people,” said Chaz Lomack, who works at an Ocean Beach business.

The stickers are targeting a new group of homeless, who are young aggressive panhandlers who chose not to work and ask for money instead.

“I’ve sat out on the corner asking for spare change. I’m out here for the simple fact that I’m a cancer patient. I have skull cancer…and can’t have a job,” said a homeless man who goes by the name of “Thumper.”

Others who hang around the south seawall in Ocean Beach say they want this lifestyle.
“Everything I’ve ever had in the material world failed me miserably,” said James Taylor. “Honestly…I’ve never been happier.”

An employee at the Ocean Beach store called The Black started carrying the stickers two weeks ago. Ken Anderson did not want to be interviewed on camera but said the stickers are meant to make the community realize the homeless population has become out of control.
“A lot of these kids have cell phones and they come from well-off families,” said Lomack.
There have even been reports of violence against people who do not give the homeless money.

“We don’t want them to do that because it is just enabling them to do their thing,” said Lomack.

But others like Taylor disagree, “Everybody is going to have a day when they lash out,” said Taylor.

Anderson said he will continue to supply the stickers as long as there is a demand for them.

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