22 Comments to 'Offering the homeless a ticket out'
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Offering the homeless a ticket out
Posted By katie allison granju
There is a lot of discussion among residents of the downtown Knoxville, 4th and Gill, Oakwood Lincoln Park and Old North Knoxville neighborhoods right now about homelessness, and how it’s casuing serious problems in this area of town..
Specifically, folks (including me) are increasingly fed up with the throngs of people conregating on the sidewalks and the roads outside the row of huge homeless shelters along Broadway. Some on the neighborhood e-mail lists are wondering how it’s possibly legal for all of these people to be camped out there on a public sidewalk all day and night. The suggestion has been made that neighborhood residents stage a demonstration in which they do the same thing - congregate in groups - on the sidewalks outside stores at Turkey Creek, homes in Sequoyah Hills, or along the sidewalks that run through Bearden - with the idea being that the police would almost certainly respond to citizen complaints and asks the protesters to clear the right of way. Then, of course, the question could be asked: why can’t this same action be taken on Broadway?
Apparently, Nashville has the same issue downtown, and one police officer has decided on a unique and controversial approach to dealing with it. He’s giving homeless folks - for free - one way tickets out of town..
Doorways where the homeless once camped have long been cleared for the new wave of downtown residents: young professionals in sleek high-rise condos.
Metro police enforce strict panhandling laws and issue a flood of misdemeanor citations, but homeless people continue to congregate on the riverfront. Business owners and residents of the downtown push for more enforcement, but blankets and shopping carts sit in their alleys.
And now comes a new Nashville police commander offering a one-way bus ticket out of town.
Supporters of the homeless are wary of the offer, because they’re not sure whom it’s meant to help: the street people, or the people who want to clean up the streets.
It’s described as a means for the poor to get back to family. It’s paid for by a group that urges tourists not to give their spare change to the homeless. And it’s not groundbreaking; a traveler’s aid program is already available in Nashville.
The proponent of the initiative says his intentions are good, but many who work in the advocate community say a free ticket out of town isn’t likely to change anything but the scenery.
What do you think of this approach? What do you see as the solution to the problem of people thronging in groups on the sidewalks and streets outside the homeless shelters? Is this a policing issue or a problem that belongs to the administration of the homeless shelters?
Comment below.
Jul 12th, 2008
This measure, while it would help that specific area, doesn’t get to the root of the homeless problem. (Not that anyone else is able to, either; I grant that.)
the throngs have been there as long as I can remember, not that it is a good thing or ok but where should they go? Disperse them among the local neighborhoods? Downtown and Market Square? Bus them out west for the afternoon? As far as one way tickets out of town what does that solve? Is the helpful officer in Nashville sending them to Knoxville?
I’m all for it! Where can I contribute?
That’s called “treating the symptom and not the problem.”
I don’t believe in kicking people when they’re down, Katie. There but for the grace of God and money in the bank go you and I.
You do realize that there is a community of homeless people who live in the swampland along the greenways trail at Turkey Creek don’t you? They eat from the fast food dumpsters and beg on the Interstate ramps. Step off the trail and you can easily find the makeshift campsites.
Just before and during the Olympics, Atlanta police would pick up homeless people and drive them outside of the city limits. I wonder if the homeless population here surged when they did that. I know that it sounds like a cruel way to treat people who are already at their lowest. ‘No more food, shelter, shower or a change of clothes for you. Go away.’
What the hell do the people in Seqouyah Hills have to do with your problem?
Those people were on the street and in your backyard when you bought your house.
Sorry about your having to deal with that, but maybe you should have looked a little closer before you signed the mortgage agreement.
test
Let me be clear that I was in no way advocating this approach - just throwing out there for discsussion.
This problem in Knoxville was brought about by all the beds that the well meaning folks built here in Knoxville. We are known thru out the homeless community all thru the south as homeless friendly. up to 65% of these folks want to be homeless that will never change. They bring crime and drugs with them and the police hands are tied by the liberals when dealing with them . The new Democratic party is one that the goverment is going to cure all your ills and you have no responsibilities for the the choices you make. Then the next biggest percentage of homeless is the mentally ill. the mental hospitals were emptied in the late 70’s or early 80’s due to budget cuts and the mentally hanicapped have never recovered. the only answer in Knoxville for this problem is to reduce the number of beds and get the proper care for the mentally handicapped. This would result in a small percentage drop of homelessness (is that a word ) in Knoxville. The problem will never go away completely.
Some relevant commentary on the matter:
Luke 4:16-21. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read… “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD… Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Ps. 140:12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.
Is. 25:4. For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress.
Ps. 10:14. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan… O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed.
Is 41:17. The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, as the God of Israel I will not forsake them.
Luke 6:20-21. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
James 2:5. Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
Is. 58:66. Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Luke 3:11. And John the Baptist would answer and say to them, “Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise.”
Mt. 5:42. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.
Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.
Prov. 19:17. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed.
I don’t see anything in the above verses that say we only need to provide help to poor people who don’t smell bad, or who don’t ask for help, or who already have a place to live and a car, not some guy under a bridge who was laid off from his aerospace job because he turned 50. But then again, it’s only the Bible, which is just a bunch of superstitions right? We are much more enlightened nowadays and we know that when we find the poor, it is better to tell them ‘get a job you bum’, kick them around a bit, then give them a bus ticket out of town.
what about able-bodied people unwilling to work, preferring instead a hand out?
“Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and never succeed. (Proverbs 12:24)”.
(Proverbs 21:25) “The desire of the lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.”
(Proverbs 20:4) “The lazy man will not plow because of winter; he will beg during harvest and have nothing.”
(2 Thessalonians 3:10-15) “. . . If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
We are, therefore, (those of us who abide in the Christian faith, anyway) to admonish them, not enable them, according to 2 Thessalonians.
Cathy, I hadn’t heard about the homeless campsites along the Turkey Creek trails, with fast food dumpsters and interstate begging part of survival. It sounds like the homeless situation is much more widespread than what some of us may have thought. What do homeowners and business owners think about this? Do they have a solution in mind? Maybe the different groups experiencing this can resolve the issue together.
I think one of the original points of the posts was that mass loitering is an issue on two blocks of Broadway. Even if we tried the ticket approach (which I’m not sure would work) we would still have many homeless in downtown, and naturally they will be drawn to the “homeless shelter district” at Broadway and 5th. That’s fine when the shelters are open, but in between those times they need to disperse from the area. They can do laps around downtown for all I care. Does that mean they’ll disperse into downtown and the neighborhoods? Yes. But having the hundred or so that lounge there every afternoon spread across several square miles is better than having them loiter on those two blocks.
In response to CK who thinks dispersing the homeless during the day in to the surrounding neighborhoods:
You would not think this if you had homeless people lounging in your neighborhood park (making it unavailable for neighborhood children), urinating in your yard, drinking from your outside water spigot (and then leaving it on), sitting on your front porch smoking and harrrassing you on the sidewalk.
The problem is that the “shelters” provide shelter only half the time. It is inhumane to put people out on the street every morning with no place to get out of the sun, rain or cold, no place to relieve themselves or get a drink of water. These people have no choice but to “hangout” somewhere - either on the streets in front of the shelters or in our neighborhoods. It is true that Knoxville draws a lot of homeless because of the dearth of services and the fact that we do not enforce loitering and litter laws and allow the homeless to foul our streets and neighborhoods The solution is to provide a covered space with water and toilet facilities for them to hangout - then make a real effort to enforce the loitering and littering laws. VMC’s new building on Broadway (made possible by a $500,000 federal grant) has the space on the back of their building (not on Broadway) for such a facility.
Some agency or other in Atlanta does something like what you’re describing, Katie. It’s not a general free-ride-outta-town card. It’s more like a repatriation program.
This agency will buy a bus ticket for a person who has a family to go back home to. They verify that the family connection is real at the intended destination. It’s like: “Hey. So you thought you’d come to this big City of Opportunity and make it here without any sort of support network. Sorry that didn’t work out for you. Would you like some help getting home?”
A decent number of people take them up on this kind offer. And it’s really a good idea. It’s much less expensive that taking care of one more person who’s homeless, and it at least offers a real way for them to get back to a place where they might have a support network before they have to go through a lot very bad stuff.
But, leaving aside considerations of compassion, religious imperatives (Doug McD, I’m totally down with you, btw) and the like, the idea of reducing your homeless population by giving already-transient people some sort of general one-way ticket outta town is probably a fantasy. There’s simply no way effectively to obstruct a person’s return to Knoxville.
This town is not some kind of mecca for homeless people from all over the world. It’s one of many cities in this country in which it’s easier to make it as a homeless person than it is in others. That’s partly weather-related, and it’s partly our fault.
We’re to blame because we attach no conditions to aid and we romanticize poverty. You down on your luck? Want help? You can have it here, no strings attached. We’ll feed you five or six meals a day. We’ll give you blankets, shoes, toiletries, clothes in such abundance that you can just throw ‘em away instead of washing them. We’ll never really get to know you or ask you to pick up your hoe and get on your row, but we’ll make you comfortable in your homelessness here by giving generously to the agencies that distribute our largess in a nakedly decrepit mockery of love and compassion. And that’s true in a lot of places, not just Knoxville. It’s an American thing.
We can’t make this place have Fargo winters, or Death Valley summers. And as long as Knoxvillians will unconditionally support people who choose to depend upon the kindness of strangers, we’ll have lots of those kinds of people around. Fantasizing about one-way tickets out is not gonna change that.
BCS:
I live in Mechanicsville a few blocks from the “district”, so I know what it’s like. Unfortunately homeless are only going to migrate within walking distance of the shelters everyday, which means the inner neighborhoods get the shaft. Respectfully, I think smaller groups of two or three spread over several miles is better than a few hundred crammed on one block. Of course, they shouldn’t be on private property. My advice is to get a dog. My dogs wouldn’t hurt a fly, but they’ll bark at anyone coming off the sidewalk, which makes homeless guys think twice about where to smoke.
The hangout shelter sounds like a good idea. We’ll see if it works.
Sobi I agre with most everything you said ……BUT we are the Mecca in the mid south for homeless folks. I know what I speak of here dealing with these folks for 16 years as a knoxville firefighter. Also my ex father in-law was homeless most of his life (by choice) He would tell me stories some of which were good about the homeless all making there way to Knoxville, its like a circut for the professional homeless person and Knoxville is a prime stop.
Well…those folks have been an issue long before the hip and trendy 4th and Gill neighborhoods existed. Did you never mnotice them before moving in? Ever check crime data? Did you know the number of registered sex offenders in there? There is a reason porch furniture is chained down. This is the reason you can afford this area - the built in external negative influences “cap” that market. Do some research or live with your choice. There is a reason you mentioned Seq. Hills - jealousy???
Will school choice be your next complaint? Watch out Bearden Elementary…
SF1966, you are a little late to the game. Ms Granju has already entertained us with her lament about how awful the school district policy is that won’t allow her to send her kid to the west Knoxville school she prefers, instead of the inner-city school they are zoned for. Her justification? His (non-custodial) father lives in the desired school zone. Most of the whining can be seen on her personal blog.
Spanky,
I still think it’s a little overstated to call Knoxville a “Mecca.” After all, there’s only one of those.
But if you wanna see concentrated homeless peeps, you only have to go as far from here as Chattanooga. Head over to Nashville for more. If we’re Mecca, and Chattanooga’s Medina, what’s Nashville? Asheville? Atlanta? Etcetera ad nauseum.
My original point was just that Knoxville is not as unique as a lot of people think it is. As you say, it’s one stop on a circuit. A pretty fat stop, no doubt, but one of many.
And giving people bus tickets isn’t attacking the problem at the systemic level.
Btw, that idea about sleeping on the sidewalk in Sequoyah Hills? I hope you guys think about that before you do it. I guarantee you that it will not help your cause. On the contrary, it will make it much harder for people outside your neighborhood to take you seriously, and it will make them resent you. You don’t need that.
Scott makes a good point. BUt further;
`Acts: 2:44-> …All the believers were together and had everything in common. selling their possesions and goods they gave to anyone who had need…..
The real problem is that people in our day and age have hardened their hearts towards the ugly people in society. People with money live in gated communities and live vicariously through their satilite TV sets and show up in church on Sunday with a check for the preacher who is living far beyond the style God ever intended for the clergy. We are a filthy society which gives only from its excess. No one sacrifices anything to help anyone else, for Christ’s sake your donations are tax deductible!
Drug addicts???? There are more pill popping drug addicts living in million dollar homes then there ever will be on the street. It is a fact that many homeless on the street are mentally ill and part of their problem is that they cannot afford the medications they need to be functional, your next door neighbor has a pill for ever shade of mood in her medicine cabinet and a martinin to wash it down with. Why not just gas them all, they are such a nuisance!! Just gas them! Then they can all be with Jesus while we stay here and look for illegal mexicans to do our labor while we watch BillOreilly spread his doctrine of Free America(of course I cant sell a hotdog on the street without 6 permits and a tax license! Free enterprise my ass! Government buyouts for the rich-Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac!! When you buy a house it is an investment, when the mortgage company sells the loan to another institution it is an investment, investment has risk. There is no risk to wealthy because when investments of the powerful go bad they just have buddies in congress bail them out. That is why there are homeless people and like Christ said ‘ the poor will always be with you” what he meant was: people will never have faith and charity in numbers great enough to solve the problem. We only thin of ourselves, wretched filthy beings that we are.