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

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by craigs

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.

No, shes def part of his ire. Its not like she said ok and the LA County supervisors said screw him. Shes in the same group hes targeting.

[pip]

Originally Posted by 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.

I pass through there maybe once a month. It is not a threatening atmosphere at all and it is always busy with people.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by LA21st

No, shes def part of his ire. Its not like she said ok and the LA County supervisors said screw him. Shes in the same group hes targeting.

Per today's Los Angeles Times:

"Gov. Gavin Newsom went to Pacoima Thursday to continue his campaign against homeless encampments, blasting Los Angeles County officials for what he described as a lack of urgency. Newsom praised Bass, saying she is making great strides in addressing the crisis, while ripping the county over its approach. As you may recall, L.A. yielded a 10.4% drop in street homelessness last year, while the county’s decrease was 5.1%, per the region’s latest count."

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by craigs

Per today's Los Angeles Times:

"Gov. Gavin Newsom went to Pacoima Thursday to continue his campaign against homeless encampments, blasting Los Angeles County officials for what he described as a lack of urgency. Newsom praised Bass, saying she is making great strides in addressing the crisis, while ripping the county over its approach. As you may recall, L.A. yielded a 10.4% drop in street homelessness last year, while the county’s decrease was 5.1%, per the region’s latest count."

Hes still lumping her with the county people saying they wont obey with him. Hes not giving her a pass and expects her to comply

Why would he be ok with Bass saying im not going to listen to you?

[craigs]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Hes still lumping her with the county people saying they wont obey with him. Hes not giving her a pass and expects her to comply

Why would he be ok with Bass saying im not going to listen to you?

Again, the key quote: "Newsom praised Bass, saying she is making great strides in addressing the crisis, while ripping the county over its approach."

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by craigs

Again, the key quote: "Newsom praised Bass, saying she is making great strides in addressing the crisis, while ripping the county over its approach."

She also said she wont listen to his order -why would he be ok with that?
His order wasnt every city besides LA.

Shes not getting a pass, or deserves one. Hes threatening to withhold money from cities not complying.
She cant even respond to a Judges order with invoices about the homeless funds.

You think Newsom wont ask her where the hell those invoices are? Dont you know want to know whats on those invoices? All these people need to be exposed.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by LA21st

She also said she wont listen to his order -why would he be ok with that?
His order wasnt every city besides LA.

Shes not getting a pass, or deserves one. Hes threatening to withhold money from cities not complying.
She cant even respond to a Judges order with invoices about the homeless funds.

You think Newsom wont ask her where the hell those invoices are? Dont you know want to know whats on those invoices? All these people need to be exposed.

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach to Governor Newsom's crackdown. I would love to see progress on dismantling these camps, which are even worse than third-world shanty towns. It is not compassionate or beneficial for society to allow these camps to proliferate; they are laboratories of disorder, crime, abuse, addiction, and physical and mental maladies.

If the Governor ends up confronting Mayor Bass in the future because we stopped making progress in eliminating unsheltered homelessness, then I'll likely side with him. My point here is that he has not done so yet--quite the opposite. He praised the progress we're seeing in LA city, and of course, like the rest of us, he wants to see more.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by craigs

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach to Governor Newsom's crackdown. I would love to see progress on dismantling these camps, which are even worse than third-world shanty towns. It is not compassionate or beneficial for society to allow these camps to proliferate; they are laboratories of disorder, crime, abuse, addiction, and physical and mental maladies.

If the Governor ends up confronting Mayor Bass in the future because we stopped making progress in eliminating unsheltered homelessness, then I'll likely side with him. My point here is that he has not done so yet--quite the opposite. He praised the progress we're seeing in LA city, and of course, like the rest of us, he wants to see more.

He mightve said that but he also said, and more importantly, he would withhold funding from cities who dont comply. He's def talking to her, he's just not calling her out...yet. But that statement is def to her. When he says no more excuses, no more our hands are tied from the supreme court etc....thats to her too.

The problem with her thinking is homeless will just be throw in jail for every scenario. Nobody has said that. The issue is homeless not accepting shelter and decide to stay on the street because drugs. The SF mayor is already facing this issue-they arent acceptiing shelter. That is the problem.

Bass for whatever reason, ignores the drug issue. If you dont accept shelter, you should have a threat of jail. People who are homeless who accept the shelter are trying to get back into society. Great. awesome. The rest? Fuck em. Theyre just trying to cause problems and I dont care if they go to jail for that.

And if Bass is pro "do whatever the fuck you want", she's done. She might get recalled over this. There is already ALOT of fire on social media from her comments. ALOT

[craigs]

The Governor said he would withhold money from counties. I realize you dislike the mayor, but the Governor is not going to make an enemy of her at this stage. Now, the County supervisors? He made an example of them.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by craigs

The Governor said he would withhold money from counties. I realize you dislike the mayor, but the Governor is not going to make an enemy of her at this stage. Now, the County supervisors? He made an example of them.

Why would he care if he makes an enemy of her? Shes a one and done.

Yea, I do. Shes chosen the homeless industrial complex over voters. Shes useless.

And counties....LA is part of the county. Almost half of it, really.

[Gantz]

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.

They are also hanging out around Penn station area and those hotels that house them now.

[ilcapo]

Originally Posted by Gantz

They are also hanging out around Penn station area and those hotels that house them now.

What about Washington Square Park, Alphabet City, Hunts Point, Bowery? All good over there now?

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by pip

I pass through there maybe once a month. It is not a threatening atmosphere at all and it is always busy with people.

Yeah i was there a few weeks ago and all was as Boston as ever - clean and orderly. A homeless person here or there…. But relative to what’s happening across the country? Quite fine. I think the poster who complained needs to get out of their suburbs more…

[ilcapo]

Originally Posted by Londonee

Yeah i was there a few weeks ago and all was as Boston as ever - clean and orderly. A homeless person here or there…. But relative to what’s happening across the country? Quite fine. I think the poster who complained needs to get out of their suburbs more…

According to the police there was 133 calls the first 9 months of 2019, most of them related to drugs.

Sounds like there was a problem in 2019 atleast. Is it that different now? Ive never been there.

Could it be that Americans like yourself generally are so used to open drug use and have a higher tolerance towards it?

There is a similar discussion regarding murder rates where americans tend to down play the murder rates of the "best cities" of the country, when in fact even the best cities in the us have high rates compared to Europe, Canada, Australia, East Asia.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by ilcapo

What about Washington Square Park, Alphabet City, Hunts Point, Bowery? All good over there now?

Those are all totally different areas. None would be particularly frequented by homeless, drug users or migrants, which this thread is conflating.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by ilcapo

There is a similar discussion regarding murder rates where americans tend to down play the murder rates of the "best cities" of the country, when in fact even the best cities in the us have high rates compared to Europe, Canada, Australia, East Asia.

Murder rates are higher in the U.S., and I doubt anyone on SSP has denied this.

But we aren't talking about murder rates. And murder rates have little to do with safety or overall crime.

What does Boston's murder rate have to do with whether you see a homeless person in a Boston park? This whole thread is trending to a very particular form of politicized BS, promoted by a certain someone.

[ilcapo]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Murder rates are higher in the U.S., and I doubt anyone on SSP has denied this.

But we aren't talking about murder rates. And murder rates have little to do with safety or overall crime.

What does Boston's murder rate have to do with whether you see a homeless person in a Boston park? This whole thread is trending to a very particular form of politicized BS, promoted by a certain someone.

Its a similar discussion going on, therefore the reference. Just like the case with murder rates, america is an extreme example when it comes to homelessness, drug use & mental illness.

As a non-american (im Scandinavian, this is an international forum) i see alot of people downplaying this stuff like its fine, when the reality is that the level of anti-social behaviour you see in many american cities are quite extreme, therefore my question about Boston.

What you may perceive as normal might be completely different by someone else, especially a non-american.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by ilcapo

Its a similar discussion going on, therefore the reference. Just like the case with murder rates, america is an extreme example when it comes to homelessness, drug use & mental illness.

I don't know if this is true. Is there evidence that the U.S. is an extreme outlier re. homelessness, drug use & mental illness?

In any case, this thread is conflating a bunch of unrelated issues. Whether someone spies a bum in a Boston park has nothing to do with anything.

Originally Posted by ilcapo

As a non-american (im Scandinavian, this is an international forum) i see alot of people downplaying this stuff like its fine, when the reality is that the level of anti-social behaviour you see in many american cities are quite extreme, therefore my question about Boston.

I don't believe your premise is correct. If you visited Boston today, and compared to major Western cities today, I don't believe you'd find Boston to be an outlier in any of these factors.

Originally Posted by ilcapo

What you may perceive as normal might be completely different by someone else, especially a non-american.

Yes, everyone has subjective observations. No, this has nothing specifically to do with nationality or birthplace. I wasn't born in the U.S. and hold foreign citizenship (as well as U.S. citizenship) and it doesn't give me any special insight.

And anecdotal observations (I see bums in a park!) don't really provide much insight on anything. My parents were just in Copenhagen and commented on Greenlanders begging on the streets. That doesn't really tell me anything.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by ilcapo

What about Washington Square Park, Alphabet City, Hunts Point, Bowery? All good over there now?

yeah all good in those areas, outside of the usual scattered homeless.

although ... hunts point, wtf?

same goes for the train stations, all nothing more or less than years past.

you're looking in all the wrong places, there may or may not be more homeless these days and because its summer out of sight under bridges and the like than before, but its hard to know if its out of the way like that. i would guess no, but just a guess.

[destroycreate]

I was just in Boston a few weeks ago, and I walked and biked all over the city. There was barely a bum in sight (though a few in the Commons Park, but I could easily see the same in Copenhagen), and the city was spotless. I didn't see open air drug use. It was really refreshing, and reminded me of a European city in this way.