For you Bay area folks?

Question

Are you getting fed up with the homeless here? It seems like the population of them has tripled in the past five years. Look, i am a good guy and am very mindful of the fact that many of these folks need real help, but some are just F***ing nuts! I live in a great neighborhood by the park and it is a real drag seeing them all over the place. Partly because I feel so helpless and also because they can be real *******. And to those of you that say I am just guilty or not tolerant, try waking up to the most hateful, obsenities being spewed out by a bum taking a crap outside your window.

Sorry- San Francisco Bay Area

Answer 1

With all the downsizing going on in the US, it doesn't surprise me that the homeless population has tripled. You also have to consider that a large percentage of the homeless are vets and/or mentally ill.

I wish I had an answer for you. You hear politicians talk about the homeless situation all the time, but I believe very few of our elected officials who have the power to bring about a positive change to the homeless situation have little desire to do so.

I wouldn't want a bum taking a crap outside my window either. Your post reminds of the Polly Klaas murder. If you recall, her killer, Richard Allen Davis, used to hang out in the park (not sure if he was homeless at the time or not) not far from the Klaas home. I've read Polly often walked past that park to go to small grocery store for her mother, and that Richard Allen Davis would watch Polly walk past the park, then just watched her as she walked to her home one day. It's horrible what happened to that young girl.

It's a real dilemma - you want to be able to enjoy your home and surrounding areas, and just feel both safe in and proud of your community. You also feel for the homeless, but it's frustrating to see them f*cking up it up. Yet, there is only so much the average person can do. My suggestion is to bring your frustrations about this issue to the attention of city government. Maybe there is something they can do to bring about some positive change. Hope things work out for you.

Answer 2

I live in the Monterey Bay Area and we are plagued with the same problem. There are the homeless and the ones that give the homeless a bad name. Most notably the increase in the drug addicted prostitutes that plague the area where I live. They come up to you and offer to blow you for $2. When I tell em to go to hell then they go can you lend me $2 then. Those are the ones that drive me crazy. On the other hand we have many homeless people that are good at heart, well educated, can carry an intellectual conversation and dont belong to the masses of crack heads and crankers. It is still a huge problem when our lives are infringed upon by some of their antics.

Answer 3

The VAST MAJORITY of homeless want to live that lifestyle. They are like cats. If you leave food out a cat will start coming by. If you continue to leave out food, more cats will start coming by and staying. As long as you feed these cats, they will stay. They will make themselves at home and tear your place up. They will crap everywhere, they will lay in your way, and they will claw you if you try to move them. It is the EXACT same way with homeless.

You know and I know that if they really wanted to get out of the cycle, the shelters would help them get back on their feet. They would help with job opportunities, food, clothes, and all the things to transition the homeless person back into a productive member of society...The truth is, it is a pretty easy life to be homeless. You know that the shelter will feed you. You just need to panhandle enough for your smokes or booze. Everyone will just leave you alone.

If you can close the food shelters or REQUIRE some sort of registration process then the homeless that did not want help would not be allowed services. They would move on to Los Angeles or Sacramento where they can mix with the fetid and festering local population. It sounds cruel but, if they do not want to be helped, they do not belong where you are.

Sometimes the best help you can give someone is to get tough with them.

Answer 4

You're right though. I'm going to hell but you're right.

There was this homeless guy that begged me and my friends for some money. We gave them our food (we had just come from a restaurant) and he ended up throwing it away. You know he only wanted the money for booze! This has happened several times.

There was another guy we gave some food to, and he looked at it, and yelled at us because it had mustard in it.

Most of these guys have some money, they are just too lazy to get a job. There was a homeless guy that deposited the money he got every week into his account (at a bank I worked at), and he had close to $10,000.

And if you think about it--all they need to do is get $1 from 10 people each hour and they're making more than minimum wage!

Answer 5

As you may know, some of them receive money from the city/state goverment

and Also when Salt Lake held the Olympics the shipped their homeless out to the City.

I definitely agree that it is getting out of control and I don't feel you are heartless or uncompassionate towards those in need it is just getting out of hand.
You can definitely tell the difference between those that are trying and those that are not

Answer 6

Are you referring to San Francisco bay area? I'm in the Tampa Bay area.

Answer 7

I can understand your frustration, but where should they go? There needs to be more "need-specific" services available to those in need. For the richest nation in the world it is a shame that we spend so little on our own "problems".

Answer 8

yeah, sum are kinda crazy. especially the frisco and berkeley ones. but i met a couple that are real cool tho, it does suck. you feel obligated to help them, but if you did every time youd be broke like them

Answer 9

I think you are right!