Big cities are dying. This should shock you.

[Oaktree]

What scares me a bit is that , aside from the government controlled "fake news" there still is a medium (the Internet) where opposition and "truth" can be broadcast. In Marshal Law, that could be shut down in a new york minute. Same with cell phones.

You used "truth" and "internet" in the same sentence. :laughing:

 

[goeduck]

Wall Street Journal has a story about corps leaving suburbia and moving back to cities...

Casualty of Cities Resurgence: The Suburban Offices Left Behind - WSJ

(I see the link requires a subscription to read all of it)

I was able to read it, but the original Seattle documentary (other than the name of it) is NOT about big cities economically declining, Seattle is booming. It is about the rampant drug use disguised as a problem with people that are out of work and out of a place to live (hence homeless).

My wife and I went out to dinner with some liberal friends last night and the homeless came up. They immediately said that the collapse of the .com and big business caused these people to be on the street. We disagreed and mentioned drug use and changed the subject quickly. As the documentary says... how can we solve the problem if we do not even name what it really is?

Sure there are people out of jobs but with the economy booming, very few should be. Sure there are mentally ill, but the drug addicts on the street are obscuring that population. We need to help the former but not the latter.

 

[ovrszd]

For someone to suggest the homeless problem is related to well paid upper class people losing their jobs is beyond funny. It's sad. Sad that contributing adults in our society would be so naïve...…..

 

[lilranch2001]

There is a certain segment of our society bent on destroying it.
I will not mention the the segment, because it would get political, but I wish that they would see their failures and see what is being left behind

 

[ultrarunner]

Record low employment here... 2.6% or close to it... but, the street encampments continue to grow.

I have noticed a slight perception change...

One of the new Hospital Social Workers was out giving street people blankets and food baskets...

I said I wish you would stop doing that... she had a look of disbelief and then I said why don't you meet me here at 4:30 am one morning and I will show you why.

Being eager she agreed... have to say it was eye opening for her... all the meal bags she was giving away ended up as trash I was picking up as well as clothes and blankets...

We have plenty of trash containers onsite but an entire segment couldn't care any less...

I really believe many of these individuals simply have no idea the scope of the problem and how they contribute to it... it makes them feel good to "Help" but how are they helping?

The city was clearing out a camp after giving 14 days notice... dumpsters lined up with city workers in Hazmat suits... the next day it was almost as if nothing had happened... people saw the news and showed up with donations... and a lot of it would have been destined for the dumps but they "Donated" to the homeless... old couches, furniture, etc...

Again... I have been here since 1991 and never have seen anything like it...

 

[atsah]

Record low employment here... 2.6% or close to it... but, the street encampments continue to grow.

I have noticed a slight perception change...

One of the new Hospital Social Workers was out giving street people blankets and food baskets...

I said I wish you would stop doing that... she had a look of disbelief and then I said why don't you meet me here at 4:30 am one morning and I will show you why.

Being eager she agreed... have to say it was eye opening for her... all the meal bags she was giving away ended up as trash I was picking up as well as clothes and blankets...

We have plenty of trash containers onsite but an entire segment couldn't care any less...

I really believe many of these individuals simply have no idea the scope of the problem and how they contribute to it... it makes them feel good to "Help" but how are they helping?

The city was clearing out a camp after giving 14 days notice... dumpsters lined up with city workers in Hazmat suits... the next day it was almost as if nothing had happened... people saw the news and showed up with donations... and a lot of it would have been destined for the dumps but they "Donated" to the homeless... old couches, furniture, etc...

Again... I have been here since 1991 and never have seen anything like it...

That's terrible!!

 

[ultrarunner]

My guess is it really is a lifestyle choice for some...

The reason I say this because several have family that have written them off... one has well to do parents who told the police they are no longer interested so please do not call...

Another guy is teaching his Ex Wife a lesson... he said she is a leach and he will live under a tree before she gets another penny from him... very articulate... had a business and it all went out the window with the divorce...

I guess there are many reasons as people...

That said... except for some real mental cases trying to light the building on fire or throwing rocks at the mail truck... most will comply when I tell them they have to move on... the police really are not interested because in 72 hours they are back...

 

[atsah]

Very difficult situation for sure, if there was an easy fix it wouldn't be an issue.. It has to be tough when someone is trying to help in some way and get nowhere in doing so.

I drove through Boston not long ago, my god, the area's these people take over and completely destroy is disgusting, the pan handles at each intersection are very aggressive, couldn't wait to get out of there..

 

[ultrarunner]

I think there have been a lot of Sci-fi films made showing the future with the wall enclaves on one side and mob rule on the other...

The problem is where do people go that want to drop out... I would argue the option didn't really exist in former times like it does today with the piling on of social services in both public and private form...

Can only imagine regions with mild climate makes it easier than having to struggle through winters with freezing temps...

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I致e always believed that convicts should be paying their debt to society whether they sweep the streets, clean up parks, fix trails, maintain/mow common areas, plant stuff, etc.

Instead we fund their law degrees. Why we don稚 teach them what is a true day痴 work. 40hr per week like most of us that don稚 break the law!

I take it Washington doesn't have convict work crews? We had them out fighting forest fires last summer in Oregon. The county jail work crews do the trash pickup, pressure wash streets and parking structures, etc.

 

[Jstpssng]

I take it Washington doesn't have convict work crews? We had them out fighting forest fires last summer in Oregon. The county jail work crews do the trash pickup, pressure wash streets and parking structures, etc.

I volunteered on a search for a lost hiker years ago, the prison sent up some of the firefighter convicts you mentioned and I got talking with the guard who accompanied them. He said they actually do a lot of work there, learning auto mechanics et al and hopefully learning a trade and/or how to work when they get out.

 

[PILOON]

Well said. Similar for the druggies on the street, they should work as in the Albuquerque link.

Agree. but then the lawyers get involved and they get the courts to agree that it's against established rules or laws.
Long live lawyers!
Wish my daddy could have bought me an enrolment in one of those prestigious schools!

 

[Jstpssng]

Agree. but then the lawyers get involved and they get the courts to agree that it's against established rules or laws.
Long live lawyers!
Wish my daddy could have bought me an enrolment in one of those prestigious schools!

That's been tried before, back in the Clinton era. I remember one "volunteer" who worked at the library; her supervisor told me it was more work to redo her work than to do it right the first time.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

There is a certain segment of our society bent on destroying it.
I will not mention the the segment, because it would get political, but I wish that they would see their failures and see what is being left behind

I agree... Sometimes right is wrong.

 

[Oldoak]

I agree... Sometimes right is wrong.

Just to be correct, right is never wrong.

 

[ultrarunner]

Agree. but then the lawyers get involved and they get the courts to agree that it's against established rules or laws.
Long live lawyers!
Wish my daddy could have bought me an enrolment in one of those prestigious schools!

The fallout is huge and my niece is right in the middle... athletic scholarships in many affected schools are now on hold... she was in the running at several prestigious universities leaving two offers on the table from not named institutions.

You never know what life holds... in her case training started at age 4 with dreams of the Olympics...

The 6 day a week before school and after school training has been intense since Junior High...

 

[Alan W.]

Most of the smaller towns around here are parasites. They use annexation to get the Walmart then the Highschool so they can tax the workers but little outlay on the towns part. This is because they are going broke spending more than they take in.
I am a firm believer in the build it and they will come philosophy when it involves the homeless. The more infrastructure ya put up the more will come.
In days past the Salvation Army and the local churches would tend to what homeless there were. Now its a business to run a nonprofit homeless shelter and dont forget about all the new agencies we now have to handle what for a lot of people is a lifestyle not a hardship.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

That's been tried before, back in the Clinton era. I remember one "volunteer" who worked at the library; her supervisor told me it was more work to redo her work than to do it right the first time.

We had a similar experience. When Clinton cut welfare back to a max of 5 years they had an OJT training program that paid the salary of welfare moms to do office work. HR stuck us with one, who had absolutely no initiative. If you didn't give her constant direction, she would come to a stop and just sit there. Lights on, nobody home.

I don't use that as a reason to condemn the whole program. Some women are worth more than others.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Most of the smaller towns around here are parasites. They use annexation to get the Walmart then the Highschool so they can tax the workers but little outlay on the towns part. This is because they are going broke spending more than they take in.
I am a firm believer in the build it and they will come philosophy when it involves the homeless. The more infrastructure ya put up the more will come.
In days past the Salvation Army and the local churches would tend to what homeless there were. Now its a business to run a nonprofit homeless shelter and dont forget about all the new agencies we now have to handle what for a lot of people is a lifestyle not a hardship.

My wife says there is money and profit in poverty and suffering; Sounds like she might have a point.

 

[4570Man]

There’s nothing you can do to help people who don’t want to help themselves. Money or lack there of isn’t the problem.