The Paramount End User of Downtown

[stephenc]

Im sure they're a quite a few labels we could through at you based on the comments you speak about "white" surburanites but there is no need to go there.

lemme guess..... Jax public school grad?  gotcha.

wow. another label. what's the point? I regret to inform you that I being from a "uber cloistered whitebread neighborhood" am not a product of the Duval County public School System (no disrepct to anyone else). I'm a private school grad but I dont really see how that matter. I can't wait to hear what you have to say about this though.

In the end we have to decide that this is a problem that the entire city must deal with, not just downtown. While their number isn't quite as large, there are homeless people ALL over this city, from the Westside to the Beaches. I think the solutions is understanding why they are in this postion to begin with, whether it be addictions or being down on their luck, and helping them realize there is something better, and then helping them attain that. But it takes people caring enough. I think that can and will start with people volunteering at shelters but not just once. It needs to be a consistent thing. We need to get to know these people.

[walter]

I think the solutions is understanding why they are in this postion to begin with, whether it be addictions or being down on their luck, and helping them realize there is something better, and then helping them attain that. But it takes people caring enough. I think that can and will start with people volunteering at shelters but not just once. It needs to be a consistent thing. We need to get to know these people.

OMG.. the epiotme of liberal drivel....good thing you're one of those edumacated cloistered whitebread suburbanites.  'just let me understand them then I can figure out whats best for them'... yeah know your type well.  Private school too, talk about guilt geez. 

[stephenc]

liberal drivel? im about as christian right wing republican as you can get. I dont think my thinking has ever been considered liberal. 

[stephenc]

I simply had no idea that the problem with the homeless was either Jesus (hat tip to Zoo) or Limousine Liberals from the suburbs (wtf, walter?).

Solving the homelessness issues is something we will have to do as a city.  We missed a real chance by refusing to fund Wanda Laniers proposal.

But lets not get too out of hand about liquidating or harming the homeless.  We are about to go through a seriously bad economic time.   Who knows which among us are going to have to deal with the same laws and policies that we are cavalierly setting up today.

well said stephendare.

[Midway ®]

I am all for bus tickets to get them out of town. Or a work camp so they can get off drugs and get used to regular steady work. If one asks me for "30 cents", my typical answer is "if you have change for a 9mm. That slum downtown has to go. It only enabled drug dealers and pseudo activists who take advantage of the situation.

Be pretty funny (in an ironic kind of way) if one of them actually DID have change for your 9mm one day, Dirty Harry.

[walter]

well said stephendare.

well done sycophant stephenc

[stephenc]

HAHA!! You're telling me.

[Coolyfett]

I simply had no idea that the problem with the homeless was either Jesus (hat tip to Zoo) or Limousine Liberals from the suburbs (wtf, walter?).

Solving the homelessness issues is something we will have to do as a city.  We missed a real chance by refusing to fund Wanda Laniers proposal.

But lets not get too out of hand about liquidating or harming the homeless.  We are about to go through a seriously bad economic time.   Who knows which among us are going to have to deal with the same laws and policies that we are cavalierly setting up today.

I agree man. segregation is wack!!

[Coolyfett]

I am all for bus tickets to get them out of town. Or a work camp so they can get off drugs and get used to regular steady work. If one asks me for "30 cents", my typical answer is "if you have change for a 9mm. That slum downtown has to go. It only enabled drug dealers and pseudo activists who take advantage of the situation.

Dude... post under your real screen name. Don't be ashamed, 9mm?? You shooting bums now? HA HA HA HA Wooooooooooooooooow!!! Give it up to Rambo ya'll he has a 9 millimeter gun.  Be a man post under your real screen name soldier.

WE SEE YOUR IP.....................

[heights unknown]

In all due respect Riverside Gator, and I do respect the way you feel, I disagree.  The homeless are not going no where and they have rights too, just like you do.  I hope you're never homeless.  (in all due respect).

Heights Unknown

P.S. - As a 20 year Naval Veteran who diligently served my country with numerous awards and accolades, and by happenstance and not totally on purpose, I was once homeless; I guess I should have been thrown in jail too.

"Riverside," sometimes bad things happen to good people for a reason.

Thanks for your good post.  Heights Unknown
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People really try to overthink this issue and try to moralize too much.  The solution to the homeless situation is quite simple:  Return to the 1950s policy of mass arrests for drunks, bums, vagrants and the mentally ill.  The mentally ill will then be committed to a state mental hospital for a period of years, not days, in order to get the proper treatment for their problems.  Drunks/drug addicts will be held in secure treatment facilities for months to dry them out.  And, the perpetually lazy will now spend their leisure time in jail.  And by doing this, you will allow the sane and legitimate citizens and taxpayers and their families to feel safe and welcome in downtown again.

So, there you have it.  Problem solved.  Now, admittedly this is difficult to implement as it will require a conservative judiciary and some backbone on the City Council, but the road map is right there and the route is clear. 

[heights unknown]

Stephendare; I like your style; you think carefully before talking and seem to understand that it will in fact take a 3 way pyramid to solve the homeless problem; City Government + Social Service Agencies + Citizens = No Homelessness!  We all have to work together with a plausible plan for attacking the causes of homelessness in order to eliminate it.

Heights Unknown
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I simply had no idea that the problem with the homeless was either Jesus (hat tip to Zoo) or Limousine Liberals from the suburbs (wtf, walter?).

Solving the homelessness issues is something we will have to do as a city.  We missed a real chance by refusing to fund Wanda Laniers proposal.

But lets not get too out of hand about liquidating or harming the homeless.  We are about to go through a seriously bad economic time.   Who knows which among us are going to have to deal with the same laws and policies that we are cavalierly setting up today.

[jaxhater]

Floriduh is the Home of the Homeless.
Only a bunch of silly carpet-bagging lawyer scum would want to put the poor in prison camps.
Why are the these people such a problem, if you have to come all the way downtown just to bitch and moan, I feel you would be a lot happier building a more Christain bomb-shelter back in the Burbs.
I live downtown and I give the homeless the money in my pocket and alot of compassion, they deserve it.
Soon the new downtown will be finished and all you scared little monkies can hang-out at dicks and play with some golfclubs.
Soon the Republicans will be done destroying the American economy and many more will be "home-less".
When that happens these self-rightous jerks will get to piss in the same cubby-hole as their brothers and sisters.

[Midway ®]

One coarse post... free.


Getting directly to the point in a flash....priceless.

[Downtown Dweller]

While I see lot's of discussion around government, social services, and citizens getting involved and being the answer to homelessness, I have as yet seen any comments around family responsibility. While I understand perfectly well that there are homeless families also, you normally do not see them on the street, they are not the one's being referenced here anyway. Family support and participation/responsibility, or lack there of is also a key contributor. While I would gladly participate (and do) in helping solve the issue of homelessness, I strongly believe the breakdown of the family unit is largely at the core of this issue. Someone mentioned how homeless were treated in  the 50's. Well yes, they were treated differently; of course they WERE different in the 50's. Persons with mental health issues or addictions were institutionalized or taken care of by their families. When parents were too old to work and could not support or take care of themselves, their children stepped up to the plate. Brothers took care of sisters and vice versus. Divorce was negligible and you didn't hear about 3rd graders being criminally charged for plots against their teachers and schoolmates. Now you have a distinct breakdown in the family unit, divorce is sky rocketing, the homeless you see on the street are not just lazy bums, but have no where else to turn because the family that took care of their own in the past does not exist any longer. While a lot of discussion around what to do NOW has occurred here, there hasn't been much discussion on how to prevent this situation in the future. A key component, in my own humble opinion is the resurrection of the family unit. Keeping in mind there are all different kinds of family units (so this isn' t a Judea Christian rant as I am not even a Judea Christian!), should we not be spending as much effort and time on supporting this as making sure the current topic at hand is addressed? One reason I never worry about being homeless and on the street is I know I have my family to help me through. I also know I am VERY fortunate in this, but it used to be, and could be again the norm.

[Trace]

The homeless problem--whatever "problem" means--simply cannot be solved.  It never has been, never will be...and this dates to ancient times .  There are too many conflicting and interlocking sub-problems and sub-issues to be solved, and truthfully there's not enough benefit to anyone to solve the problem. 

Employers have plenty of people available that don't have the problems of the homeless, so why would they be inclined to to provide jobs to a problematic population?  They want astute college grads, not a muttering mental.  Sorry.

RiverGator was brutal in his analysis, but he's on target.  It's pointless for everyone to wring their hands, point their fingers, and demand that somebody "do something" about the homeless.  As a society, I suppose we should feed them and generally offer shelter so they don't die on the street, which is the "hand-out" philosophy.  But in those ancient times that I mentioned, there were no organized hand-outs.  People died, or survived as the village idiot, as beggars, as thieves, etc.  Same as now. Darwin is at work here, not organized religion or disorganized government.  Darwin always wins.

Oh, by-the-way.......there is a large homeless population in Ponte Vedra, living in the woods at the very end of JTB (at A1A) and near the Marsh Landing Target.  You can actually make out the trails to their camps on Google Maps.   Think of them as "beach bums"!!