Quote:
Originally Posted by Tykendo
Not good, but as a temporary shelter for the winter months, it could be a good thing. But parameters need to be set to keep the area from being a zone for panhandlers, drug abusers, and malcontents. Get the inhabitants on a schedule of work to clean up the area. Picking up trash, painting over graffiti, washing down the streets. Kind of like a Job Corp for the Homeless. If they refuse, they can leave the area, but malingering will not be allowed. Maybe set up bonuses for those who get the most done. And maybe, just maybe, promote the best to permanent jobs in the city, with housing. Just an idea. I'm probably not wording it right, but it could turn into a good program going forward.
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I am with you on this if it is temporary. I do not worry about the old post office becoming a permanent homeless shelter. There have been plenty of temporary homeless shelters over the years in buildings in which other uses have been planned. Consider unleased office space downtown or the Convention Center which had temporary uses as shelter spaces. I do not see consideration of the old post office for emergency use as a sign of dysfunction. Rather, if City Council did NOT quickly consider its use for temporary shelter, then that would be a sign of dysfunction and zero leadership.
I also support your call for tight regulation of the post office as a shelter and putting its residents to work on trash removal and graffiti cleanup.