panhandlers are becoming aggressive

[tboy]

WOW. If there are 10,000 homeless in the city, that would be $22,000 each per year to look after them. With that kind of money the homeless should be at least dressed better. City should be providing a concierge laundry service.

Would think the city could find somewhere to cut in a $220 million budget.

Good point but you know that the way governments do things? If you and I can buy an item for $20.00 they spend $100.00 to do a study on it first. For eg: You me and everyone else could get a decent apartment for $750.00 a month but they produce dumps and pay $1000.00 a month for them.

That's why i say the city shouldn't be in the golf club OR the homeless game. Stop the endless supply of money because we all know: give someone $100.00 and they'll spend it. Give em $20.00 and they'll spend it carefully.

 

[PurpleMonkey]

Nothing comes for free in this world. Donations and charity can only last a certain time then you're off on your own, same with those squeegie buddies, do they have rrsp or pension on that job to protect them when they're old?

Unless you're uncle bill, nobody will care about you, that's harsh but that's the truth. C'mon, let's see the world in reality.

I think the solution to the "street" problem is Communication and Effort.

Communication to avoid misunderstanding. Communication to teach. Communication to help. Communication to solve. The lack of understanding the who, why, where, what and how the homeless are the homeless will untimately lead to misunderstanding and hate. Yes, hate. See how fast the media picked up on this?

But I stress this is a two-way solution. Both sides must show effort to solve. Otherwise, Charlie will be back in the same corner the beginning of next month.

I would love our society to be full of love, peace and happiness. But the truth of the matter is this world is comprised full of hate, greed and selfishness. Not being pessimistic, just being real.

 

[tboy]

Well Mr Monkey: They have Canada Pension, same as the rest of us but wait, they didn't contribute but still get it. I don't have RRSP's either and no one to look after me when I'm old but I contribute to society.

I was involved in a project involving street kids a while back and what part of that project entailed was collecting written stories from the kids about how they ended up where they were and what their life was about.

I read through maybe 30 of these stories and stopped at 30 because out of 30, 26 were exactly the same: their parents were too strict and didn't give them enough freedom to party so they ran away......One that stuck in my mind by a 16 yr old was that she had a curfew of 11 pm on a school night and thought that was inhumane.....shit, when I was 16 I had to be home by 10!!!

I spoke to the person in charge of the project who read almost all the letters and she said yeah, an overwelming majority of the stories were about the parents being too strick. Well, the street kids wanted freedom but that doesn't mean they are free of responsiblility for their situation.

 

[trisket]

Society has made them unemployable, we created an entitled handout sector.

They didn't become like this on their own but I'm not going to enable it.

 

[PurpleMonkey]

I really think there is more to street kids running away from home besides the parents being strict to curfews/homework/etc. I think it is part parental guidance/teachings and part peer/outside influences. Since the parents are not there to teach them or teaching them things that are "morally" wrong they get all messed up. "should I do what they say or should I rebel?"

From a research paper published in 2001, they stated the #1 cause of runaways is rebellion from troubled homes. Once again, I stress communication and effort is the key. If there were more communication in the early start when the roots began to grow, less effort would've been needed.

 

[tboy]

But what do they classify as "troubled homes"? Like I said: from my own personal research the troubled home was one that had rules and punishment for breaking those rules.

And with our oversensitive PC way of looking at things, a smack on the ass when you tell your mother to fuck off is now deemed abuse. Well, if I ever told my mother to fuck off, I wouldn't be here today to talk about it.....

However, I DO agree that outside pressures add a lot of headaches to parents and parenting these days. Kids I find now feel they deserve whatever they want and if they don't get it, they rebel. Also the gangsta/ghetto cool factor comes into effect. Well, if now they're on the street, they're "cool" and that is a choice many of them make.

From a personal experience: A 15 yr old thought her 18 yr old sister was so cool and free spirited. Her sister had been kicked out for various offences and the 15 yr old, went with her once because she was so "cool'. Well, she returned home after a week when she found out being cool comes with a price: which in her case was hunger because the only thing she'd eaten in a week was a box of raw kraft dinner that they stole....Sorry, if you think it's cool to be a thief and live on the street, have at it!

BTW: know why the 15 yr old took off? She got grounded for smoking in her room which she'd done in the past and was warned if she did it again, she'd be grounded......

 

[trisket]

They stole raw kraft dinner?

I think we're breeding a stupider bunch, our grandparents would have grabbed a candy bar or an apple.

 

[anon1]

I say lets kill everybody that looks like Riffraf


*BURP*

Soylent Green them

"BURP"

 

[Asterix]

I like to use the New York City example.

When Rudy G. was elected he cracked down on pan handlers, bums, vagrants, graffiti scumbags, vandals etc.

Basically, he told the cops to get off their asses and start enforcing the laws that were already on the books and the courts to start sending the layabouts to jail.

Guess what...

It worked.

And then they get out with nothing changed. Two parent families are the fastest growing group of homeless in Toronto, this according to the 2001 City of Toronto report. Throw them in jail as well? The same report listed the abysmal state of affordable housing in Toronto, or any available housing at all. Only .6% of rentals were shown as available, or 6 in 1000. Add to that the number of mentally ill released from institutions because no one wants to pay for them anymore. How exactly would you expect things to have turned out any differently?

 

[Asterix]

WOW. If there are 10,000 homeless in the city, that would be $22,000 each per year to look after them. With that kind of money the homeless should be at least dressed better. City should be providing a concierge laundry service.

Would think the city could find somewhere to cut in a $220 million budget.

Try more like at least 30,000, and that only counts those housed at shelters. Who knows how high the number really is. No one's bothering to count.

 

[hoser1970]

Man Dies From Injuries In Alleged Panhandling Stabbing

It apparently started after a man asked him and a friend for cash and when they were refused police say Hammond was stabbed. It's alleged three other panhandlers joined in the fight, which spilled out onto the street, snarling traffic in front of as many as 30 witnesses.

A person who knows the man who allegedly stabbed Hammond claims he's mentally ill. ​

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_13674.aspx

What the hell is our city coming to?

When are we going to realize that they are not poor, misunderstood kids, but rather some are criminals and/or mentally ill? The criminals belong in jail; the mentally ill belong in institutions that they can not simply walk away from whenever they please, putting the public at risk. Those that simply do not want to follow society's rules should be told fine, but society is not going to support you and get the f**k out of our city!

And those that are simply down on their luck, that really and truly do want to make a better life for themselves, should be offered our full support!

Until we stop trying to treat all homeless people exactly the same (because clearly they are not) there will never be enough money to fix the problem.

Unfortunately, as James T. Kirk pointed out, there are too many people (not homeless people) who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, and blocking any attempt to address the issues.

 

[hoser1970]

^^^Is there an echo in here?

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[james t kirk]

WOW. If there are 10,000 homeless in the city, that would be $22,000 each per year to look after them. With that kind of money the homeless should be at least dressed better. City should be providing a concierge laundry service.

Would think the city could find somewhere to cut in a $220 million budget.

The fact of the matter is that homeless has become an industry in Toronto. And I don't mean for homeless people, I mean for the support industry all around it.

 

[Esco!]

^^^Is there an echo in here?
HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Hoser, who on earth are you talking to???

 

[great bear]

Visited San Francisco a while back. Panhandlers on every corner begging for money. No jobs, they say, can't find work they say. Drove for about 30 minutes outside of San Fran. People working in the Vineyards all over the place. They were all latinos. Working their asses off. No one begging there.

But in San Fran only a short distance from where the Latinos were working their collective asses off, people were begging on street corners because supposedly they could not find work. What's wrong with this picture?

 

[james t kirk]

Visited San Francisco a while back. Panhandlers on every corner begging for money. No jobs, they say, can't find work they say. Drove for about 30 minutes outside of San Fran. People working in the Vineyards all over the place. They were all latinos. Working their asses off. No one begging there.

But in San Fran only a short distance from where the Latinos were working their collective asses off, people were begging on street corners because supposedly they could not find work. What's wrong with this picture?

I believe in Canada the Unemployment rate is at a 33 year low as of last friday.

I believe in UI as anyone can find themself unemployed, in fact, I'd even be for a raise in the rate.

I believe in the state taking care of the disabled and mentally disabled.

I believe in welfare as a stop gap for able bodied people who may be down on their luck, but not forever as a lifestyle.

 

[Papi Chulo]

I believe in UI as anyone can find themself unemployed, in fact, I'd even be for a raise in the rate.

Actually it has been called EI (Emploment Insurance) for approx the last 10 years.

EI has an accumulated surplus of more than $50 BILLION & takes in an extra $2-$4 BILLION each year... not to mention how many hoops you have to jump through to collect benefits, which you have paid for.

Would you still support an increase in rates (I am assuming you are talking about the rates of collection)???

 

[Asterix]

Visited San Francisco a while back. Panhandlers on every corner begging for money. No jobs, they say, can't find work they say. Drove for about 30 minutes outside of San Fran. People working in the Vineyards all over the place. They were all latinos. Working their asses off. No one begging there.

But in San Fran only a short distance from where the Latinos were working their collective asses off, people were begging on street corners because supposedly they could not find work. What's wrong with this picture?

There are over 500,000 illegal agricultural workers in California alone, between 30% to 60% of the work force depending on the crop, working long hours for low wages. All so we can have cheaper produce in the stores, and allow their employers to skirt regulations and tax payments. What's wrong with this picture?

 

[trisket]

But in San Fran only a short distance from where the Latinos were working their collective asses off, people were begging on street corners because supposedly they could not find work. What's wrong with this picture?

The first group are unemployable parasites, the second are valuable to the economy.

Which would you hire?

 

[Papi Chulo]

The illegal latinos in the US are filling jobs that 99% of americans will not do.