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In reply to the discussion: 10 Unbelievably Sh**ty Things America Does to Homeless People [View all]daredtowork
(3,732 posts)This is one of the reasons I stopped posting at Daily Kos
The powers that be there were supporting the Sit/Lie laws in Berkeley! And claiming their wife was "scared" to walk on sidewalks! What a Chamber of Commerce line of B.S.! In over 20 years I have never felt scared to walk at all hours on the main streets of Berkeley - and I'm a small woman! But what I have felt is very much pain because I have severe mobility issues, and Berkeley has been removing bus bunches and placing stakes around planter boxes and otherwise removing public places to sit!!! Furthermore, rich people sit on the grass near certain gourmet meccas all the time, because there is not enough sidewalk seating. Certainly no one was planning to arrest them! These laws are just to harass people perceived as beggars - and if you click my sig, you will see that in the Berkeley area, they have no frakking choice because there is no cash welfare for single people without children.
You know who you are. Shame on you.
However, I found this article extremely heartening and uplifting. This is telling truth to power. People will physically transform if you put them in survivable circumstances:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/housing-homeless-can-save-money/
Doing the right thing saves money! Who would have thought? The only thing getting in the way is people's ASSUMPTIONS about the causes of homelessness.