Quote:
Originally Posted by Comrade
The homeless situation is an extension to the fact the area is blighted and strongly industrial. Drug addicts tend to frequent areas exactly like that. It's not the homeless people selling the drugs to the people - for the most part (it happens, but let's be honest, the homeless don't have the means for shit like that).
The area is under-policed and underdeveloped, which makes it a breading ground for crime. It just so happens the homeless people are also drawn to areas like that because they're easier to frequent without being hassled by people or police.
But to blame this event, or to make this event, about homeless is just not right. The big issue here is drug addicts, drug dealers and gangs, as is most the crime west of State Street in the city. The homeless only account for a fraction of the violent crime in that area, and probably only a small fraction of drug related crime.
That's the issue we need to look into.
But looting happens. Homeless loot. Affluent people loot. To pass judgment on homeless because of this would be like passing judgment on all white people for looting after their hockey team wins the Stanley Cup or black people for looting after a police shooting.
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The blight is only part of the reason that the area has a problem. In fact the blight in the area has decreased dramatically since the 1990s. The long overpasses have been demolished, many abandoned structures have been rehabilitated, demolished, gateway has been highly developed, residential development has gone through the roof, pioneer park has become an event hotspot... quite honestly there is not a whole hell of a lot of blight left in the Rio Grand/Gateway areas. But even with constant improvement and a huge decrease in blight... the problem has still gotten a lot worse.
So yeah, part of the issue is underdevelopment, but that is the one thing that has made progress. The main thing that hampers progress in the area is the Homless and crime problem. The other part of the problem is that all the Homless services are concentrated in the area. Do you seriously think they would all hang around there if there were limited services spread throughout the valley? They would spread out as well and then development would increase exponentially.
There are a few reasons that the crime in the area exist in the area. But it mainly circulates around drugs... not all, but many Homless people in the area are regular drug users... It creates a huge market for the drug dealers, and because its become so well known that the area surrounding the Homless shelter has a huge drug circulation, many non Homless people go there to buy drugs as well. The drug dealers / gangs blend in with the Homless people and use them to shield their operations, because as you've stated there is very little police oversite... but without the large Homless population, there would be much of a reason for the drug dealers and gangs to maintain the type of presence that they currently have in the area...
So yes, a huge part of the problem is the cities unwillingness to address the consentration of Homless shelters.... but luckily the huge interest in the area is forcing their hand.... I don't thing the city wants to see gateway close, because that is exactly what was going to happen if they wouldn't have acted. Besides people not wanting to go there any more, remaining tenants like dicks were threatening to leave... Megaplex isn't really a draw any more. All of their theaters (especially gateway) are very outdated.
As for looting... All looting is bad. But it's one thing to just go and the loot, it's quite another thing to ignore something like what happened and loot a persons car while they are inside dying, instead of trying to get them help... Those people are just as fucked up as the person who committed the murder... So while there really is two stories here. It's just not really all that unbelievable that something like that could happen during a drug deal... but what is unbelievable is that people would behave like that after witnessing this... it's not even the fact that they're homeless... I would think it was just as bad if Federal Heights residence did the same thing... but I'm sorry, I can't help but think that it's ironic that a bunch of homeless people did this right after it was said how kind they are...
And yeah.. I know not all Homless people are bad... maybe I'll study using the word Bums cuz that's really the ones I'm talking about.