How sketchy and pervasive is your city's visible transient/drug addict situation?

[craigs]

Originally Posted by LA21st

If Bass sticks to it and SF changes, shes getting the boot. Not even a debate. Shes done. And a new mayor will come in and do it.
She ran on fixiing homeless and hasnt done what she said. Shes out anyway, but this is more of a nail in the coffin. She might even get recalled over it.

The street homeless rate has dropped 10% in LA city [edit: sopas ej beat me to it] over the last year. It's not that nothing is getting done. But yeah--we already need more done. And then there is the specter of homeless from less tolerant cities moving here for the free ride.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Well, coincidentally, about a month ago, it was reported that LA County's homeless population decreased slightly (LA sees first double-digit decrease in street homelessness in at least 9 years).

And Los Angeles County law enforcement has support of this policy. Per LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, his agency "will only detain people who commit a crime, not simply for living in an encampment. Being homeless is not a crime, and we will maintain our focus on criminal behavior rather than an individual’s status."

Again, we'll see how this plays out in the next several months.

If people in LA see things have changed in sf, they will expect it of LA. Whoever doesnt do it, will be booted from office. Mark my words. Shes probably under fire from voters right now. And her delay of showing the judge/media the invoices to the non profits isnt helping anything. She has totally misread the voters in favor of the homeless industrial complex.

Some of them do refuse shelter. If they refuse, bus them back to where they came from or put them in jail.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

In Copenhagen, you see Inuit from Greenland on the street. I have never seen anything similar with Sami.

My parents were just in Copenhagen, and commented on this. Obviously just visiting, so not getting a complete picture, but they said the Inuit presence was very obvious, especially in a big city that overall feels remarkably orderly compared to, say equivalents in Germany, Netherlands or France.

[Innsertnamehere]

I was in Boston last week for the first time since 2016 and was surprised (or rather, not that surprised) to see the condition of Boston Common. It was my wife's first time in the city and she felt unsafe walking through the park.

That was very much not the case in 2016.

This was two weeks after I got accosted by a homeless person in Toronto for the first time in the 10 years I've been living / frequenting downtown.

It's really quite scary how much worse the problem has gotten over the last few years on both sides of the border.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

There are homeless in Boston Commons now? Haven't been in a couple years but I'm shocked to hear that

[edale]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I was in Boston last week for the first time since 2016 and was surprised (or rather, not that surprised) to see the condition of Boston Common. It was my wife's first time in the city and she felt unsafe walking through the park.

That was very much not the case in 2016.

This was two weeks after I got accosted by a homeless person in Toronto for the first time in the 10 years I've been living / frequenting downtown.

It's really quite scary how much worse the problem has gotten over the last few years on both sides of the border.

Hm, I was in Boston 2 summers ago and Boston Common was lovely and not sketchy at all. I'd be very surprised if things have radically changed in a few years. I can't imagine it got so bad that someone would be afraid to walk through. I'll be back there in a couple weeks, so guess I'll get to see for myself.

[Velvet_Highground]

Alright I’ll dip my toes into this one. Detroit should just legalize and regulate prostitution. There’s an opportunity to help put a dent into the break the cycle of misery in which club culture and prostitution go hand in hand with the worst of the seedy, sketchy - transient elements. The club culture as it is is toxic for the women who work in it the slide from dancing to sex work is made much easier there’s a well worn path onto the street with people in various stages of the life.

Having brothels and strip clubs separated with sex work regulated would go a long way towards creating a safety net for a dark and exploitive industry. Strip clubs are a gateway for prostitution and drug use for the employees and customers. Having an incentive to keep the clubs honest and having a legitimate place for sex work that incentivizes the monetary aspect as well health and safety as well as being a legitimate job can have a positive impact. The lines are more grey and easier to cross in an underground unregulated environment.

It doesn’t do anything for those on the street but trying to enforce and unenforceable law degrades the legitimacy of the law in general. The legalization of cannabis coincides with the end of the open air The Wire like conditions in neighborhoods across the city as well as other massive systemic changes ie political, economic & unplayable debit relief which caused city services to begin their recovery.

A separation of drug culture from relatively harmless cannabis use from party and hard drug use is impactful. A further separation of party drugs into a way they can be somehow legalized and regulated takes the mystique away and puts legal responsibility on the proprietors of such hypothetical institutions.

I honestly think the only way out of the war on drugs is some kind of legalization combined with preventive measures and healthcare services. People have chewed coca leaves or drank poppy extract for thousands of years it’s probably in our DNA. We’ve faced addiction crises before but the underground nature and modern technology has made the use of such substances exponentially more harmful. IV drug use of some concoction of likely illicitly made “fent” with tranq is a terrifying phenomenon. Meth is a terrifying phenomenon considering what it’s made from and what it does to the body and mind. Smoking crack is terrifying thinking what it does to the body and mind as imbibing a highly potent stimulant by smoking.

I don’t think legalizing heroin, meth or crack is a good idea but perhaps offering some kind of prescription program for long term users who get less harmful variants of their drug and can be prescribed a dosage for the purpose of weeining them down and off. It’s a bandaid for a problem as old as civilization. The goal should be a healthy individual who isn’t harming themselves by their addiction but our best treatment involves managed addiction for life via vivitrol shots or suboxone. Not to discredit peoples hard work but the suboxone treatment works because it is similar to an opioid so it stimulates the same centers of the brain while different enough that it’s opiate blocker (I believe vivitrol) works by making people not be able to feel opiates or violently ill.

I’ve heard of traditional treatments like ayahuasca and shamanic rituals where a person goes though a hallucinogenic experience and change their perspective while going through a hellish nightmare. Imo I think it’s more esoteric the mind altering properties of ayahuasca combined with being violently ill imbed in one’s mind never again.

I’ve seen friends and family struggle with addiction. I’m familiar with watching repeat relapses not for a lack of trying or moral fiber. The best result is similar to how our health system treats illness. The focus is on treatment while pharmaceutical companies manufacture drugs for maintenance therapy albeit with the goal of getting the person off the prescription all together.

Our problems run deeper than they seem. Beer and or liquor was a common drink of choice just over 100 years ago because sanitation was poor and children that survived did so by building an immunity to their local diseases many of which were water borne. Up to a million people died in the civil war. 600k is the traditional estimate however most died due to the dirty conditions war brings and poor health care or contagions while others died from drinking water they simply had no immunity to the local water born illnesses.

Simply put while the modern era had taken imbibing to the next level and pardon my French but put it on crack. While alcoholic beverages were used (watered down a lot) to prevent falling ill from unpotable water. We have thousands of years of history as beings that have had social consequences from addiction perhaps we should take a look back and instead of blaming the person look holistically at the problem.

We’ve tried everything else and it’s getting worse there are of course outside influences that take advantage of the situation. The US government took action against domestic pharmaceutical companies who were pushing opioids, Chinese government has been refusing the Biden administration (not sure if it still is) to cut down on fentynal production. As coca production fueled wars spurred on by Cold War ideology and politics have waned in the Andes while narco gangs have risen along the lines of human smuggling/trafficking to a broken U.S. border. The great wars of the 19th and 20th century produced many IV opioid addicts who were grievously wounded.

The genie is out of the bottle we don’t have easy policy choices it doesn’t mean we can’t try short term radical choices to staunch the bleeding into the next generation of our children. While making hard choices to mend old wounds that are ingrained or recently self inflicted over the medium to long term. However it would be foolish to assume that we can police or prohibit our way out of this mess.

Cities are a reflection of the human condition and our society and we are a short lived people with an extensional dread of death. Dealing with multigenerational issues has not been a strong suit of the human race. However with all the problems that come with the modern condition come the ability to gather knowledge from across the world at the blink of an eye and communicate to the same degree. It’s a matter of balancing priorities and dealing with unexpected challenges.

I’m not sure a more automated future will bring the kind of prosperity that is the key to start healing our society. I’m not sure an arms race for AI is sane policy and the power that controlling such technology can bring is something we are ready for. It’s almost enough to drive a person to drink. I’m putting in a little dark humor for a very dark and serious subject. I don’t think we are in an unprecedented situation as a civilization with the exception of the massive explosion in communication, movement and technology the human condition changing is one for the philosophers. But I don’t see an insurmountable problem just a very successful civilization that is young and needs to adapt, reform and mature. The consequences of not taking enough proactive steps are the malaise hanging in the background of politics as the successful and ossified status quo doesn’t want to chance. Though throwing out the wisdom of our elders is not what I’m preaching more so building on what works and moving past what doesn’t.

[pip]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I was in Boston last week for the first time since 2016 and was surprised (or rather, not that surprised) to see the condition of Boston Common. It was my wife's first time in the city and she felt unsafe walking through the park.

That was very much not the case in 2016.

This was two weeks after I got accosted by a homeless person in Toronto for the first time in the 10 years I've been living / frequenting downtown.

It's really quite scary how much worse the problem has gotten over the last few years on both sides of the border.

Don't believe you.

[jmecklenborg]

Someone broke into my house on Monday and stole my expired prescription (some sort of anti-acid reflux stuff I forgot the name of) and my cat's medication.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Someone broke into my house on Monday and stole my expired prescription (some sort of anti-acid reflux stuff I forgot the name of) and my cat's medication.

Did you confuse the street name for a state? It often happens with an upset stomach.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I was in Boston last week for the first time since 2016 and was surprised (or rather, not that surprised) to see the condition of Boston Common. It was my wife's first time in the city and she felt unsafe walking through the park.

That was very much not the case in 2016.

This was two weeks after I got accosted by a homeless person in Toronto for the first time in the 10 years I've been living / frequenting downtown.

It's really quite scary how much worse the problem has gotten over the last few years on both sides of the border.

I was in Boston at this exact time last year and walked through the Common with my wife around midnight twice. No problems or feeling of unease at all.

I totally believe you though. Things are changing fast in our cities.

[edale]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

And Los Angeles County law enforcement has support of this policy. Per LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, his agency "will only detain people who commit a crime, not simply for living in an encampment. Being homeless is not a crime, and we will maintain our focus on criminal behavior rather than an individual’s status."

Well all he needs to do is stroll past basically any of the homeless encampments and he'll find plenty of criminal behavior. Being homeless by itself has never been the issue. It's the fact that these camps are full of people using hard drugs, spewing trash and refuse all over the place, stealing other people's property, and all sorts of other antisocial nonsense. There's a full fledged bike chop shop operating out of the tent village directly in front of City Hall. I've seen people shooting up and smoking crack/meth/who knows what in broad daylight there a hundred times. The City finally started cleaning this area, but they have the vagrants move their shit across the street, the city's sanitation workers pressure wash the sidewalk, and then they move right back to where they were and get to trashing the block again. And the best part is the homeless get really indignant and yell at the officers and sanitation workers for having to move across the street for a few hours. It's complete lunacy. All in the name of 'compassion.'

[mrnyc]

for ny the druggy population mostly isnt visible, because most tend to hover around the drug and social services programs and those are stacked in poor and working class areas, far from tourists, for example like along jerome ave in the bx or tompkinsville in staten.

there are occasional temporary popups, like there was an incredible needle bedded drug camp in the unused train tunnel between 149st & westchester ave for awhile that had to be seen to be believed, or another outrageous sitch of a deli selling dangerous K2 and zombies dropping off all around it on broadway/mrytle in brooklyn. these eventually get cleaned up.

once there was a tent up on 149th giving away free narcon and right next to it two parked cars with guys yelling out to come get your heroin and other drugs that went on for a couple weeks. we couldnt believe it at work. stuff like that once in awhile.

otherwise, just scattered homeless mostly. at least in heavily pedestrian areas. there are camps under bridges tho, but away from notice.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by edale

Well all he needs to do is stroll past basically any of the homeless encampments and he'll find plenty of criminal behavior. Being homeless by itself has never been the issue. It's the fact that these camps are full of people using hard drugs, spewing trash and refuse all over the place, stealing other people's property, and all sorts of other antisocial nonsense. There's a full fledged bike chop shop operating out of the tent village directly in front of City Hall. I've seen people shooting up and smoking crack/meth/who knows what in broad daylight there a hundred times. The City finally started cleaning this area, but they have the vagrants move their shit across the street, the city's sanitation workers pressure wash the sidewalk, and then they move right back to where they were and get to trashing the block again. And the best part is the homeless get really indignant and yell at the officers and sanitation workers for having to move across the street for a few hours. It's complete lunacy. All in the name of 'compassion.'

Bingo

[craigs]

Newsom Clears Homeless Camps in L.A. County, Where He Wants More ‘Urgency’

Gov. Gavin Newsom, frustrated by county leaders who spurned his executive order cracking down on encampments, visited their turf to clear homeless sites.

Shawn Hubler
The New York Times
August 8, 2024

The stop in Los Angeles came without the usual courtesy notice. Gov. Gavin Newsom was in Southern California on Thursday morning to celebrate the debut of two giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo. But hours later, he emerged 127 miles up the freeway, driving home his message of the moment: Famously tolerant California isn’t tolerating homeless encampments anymore.

Since July 25, when the governor urged California cities to dismantle the street camps that have come to define the state’s homelessness crisis, leaders in Los Angeles have been particularly resistant to Mr. Newsom, making clear that they plan to deal with the issue in their own way and on their own timetable.

On Thursday, Mr. Newsom, in sunglasses, jeans and a black ball cap, visited two homeless encampments on their turf without directly informing city or county leaders. The only advance notice seemed to be state placards that warned people days ago they were facing citation or arrest if they continued to stay there. “People are done. If we don’t deal with this, we don’t deserve to be in office,” Mr. Newsom said, tearing into a rancid, garbage-strewn campsite on state property under Interstate 10 in Los Angeles, alongside a crew of state workers in orange vests.
. . . .

[LA21st]

He's gonna keep calling her out until she complies. She doesnt really have a choice, and if she thinks she does, shes done in LA/California

[craigs]

Originally Posted by LA21st

He's gonna keep calling her out until she complies. She doesnt really have a choice, and if she thinks she does, shes done in LA/California

Governor Newsom did not call out Mayor Bass, he was here calling out the do-nothing county supervisors. While street homelessness is down 10% in LA city year over year (a good start), it's down only 2% in LA County. That's because the supervisors are not doing anything at all and have openly defied the governor. They were his intended targets today.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

for ny the druggy population mostly isnt visible, because most tend to hover around the drug and social services programs and those are stacked in poor and working class areas, far from tourists, for example like along jerome ave in the bx or tompkinsville in staten.

there are occasional temporary popups, like there was an incredible needle bedded drug camp in the unused train tunnel between 149st & westchester ave for awhile that had to be seen to be believed, or another outrageous sitch of a deli selling dangerous K2 and zombies dropping off all around it on broadway/mrytle in brooklyn. these eventually get cleaned up.

once there was a tent up on 149th giving away free narcon and right next to it two parked cars with guys yelling out to come get your heroin and other drugs that went on for a couple weeks. we couldnt believe it at work. stuff like that once in awhile.

otherwise, just scattered homeless mostly. at least in heavily pedestrian areas. there are camps under bridges tho, but away from notice.

There's an "interesting" ex-mafia graveyard dilapidated/burning man-esque area between Queens and Brooklyn called "The Hole"

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/KbjDo6exoAjBsGTW7

Youtube:
• Video Link

[mrnyc]

^ yeah, i notice that area is getting a lot of youtube attention lately. previously it was just known for always flooding out, if at all, but now the youtubers made it into some kind of wild outlaw neighborhood hype.

[tdawg]

I was in Boston a few weeks ago and ran through the Common. I saw a few more vagrants than I remember seeing pre-pandemic but it didn't feel unsafe at all. In fact it was packed with people.